New Scotland travel restrictions and COVID Regulations
Scotland travel – all international travel restrictions for people coming to Scotland are to end, also Update on COVID regulations.
Following agreement at a cross-UK meeting, all international travel restrictions for people coming to Scotland are to end.
Fully vaccinated travellers will no longer be required to complete Passenger Locator Forms under the change which comes into effect at 4am Friday (18 March).
Non-vaccinated travellers will cease taking pre-departure and day two PCR tests and no longer have to complete locator forms.
Monitoring by the UK Health Security Agency will continue with a contingency toolkit of measures developed tailored to specific future scenarios.
Scotland travel – The measures were agreed by the Scottish Government following engagement with all four nations.
The Scottish Government expressed concern over the lack of border control measures and – with the other devolved administrations – called on the UK Government to maintain some form of border surveillance.
However given the negative impact of non-alignment on the tourism industry, alignment was reluctantly agreed on a four nation basis.
These changes only apply to incoming travellers. People should continue to check gov.uk for the latest information on the requirements in other countries when travelling abroad.
COVID Regulations – Legal requirements to wear face coverings on public transport and most indoor public settings will continue until at least early April given the current spike in Covid case numbers, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced today.
Remaining legal requirements for businesses and service providers to collect customer details for contact tracing, and to have regard to and take reasonable measures set out in Covid guidance, will end as planned on Monday 21 March.
The First Minister also confirmed that people without COVID-19 symptoms will no longer be asked to take regular lateral flow tests tests from 18 April. The change forms part of the Test and Protect Transition Plan, which sets out how testing will become more targeted, with the aim of reducing serious harm from COVID-19.
COVID Regulations – The changes to Test and Protect mean that from 18 April:
- most people without symptoms will no longer be asked to take COVID-19 tests
- free lateral flow devices (LFDs) for the purposes of twice weekly routine testing will no longer be available for the general population given the changing advice, but will continue to be free for any purpose for which testing continues to be advised – for clinical care, for health and social care workers and for people visiting vulnerable individuals in care homes or hospitals
- until the end of April, people with symptoms should still isolate and get a PCR test
- vaccinated close contacts of someone with COVID-19 should continue to test daily for seven days with LFDs
COVID Regulations – People who have symptoms of COVID-19 will still be able to book PCR tests in the usual way until 30 April. From that date, test sites will close and people with symptoms will no longer be advised that they need to seek a test. The public health advice for people who feel unwell will be to stay at home until they feel better, to reduce the risk of infecting other people.
The First Minister thanked the frontline Test and Protect workforce for their efforts throughout the pandemic. Work is on-going to support staff to explore other opportunities in the public and private sector.
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