The Indian coronavirus variant has been confirmed in Scotland, according to the latest data.
A total of four tests have come back positive for the new strain of Covid-19 in Scotland, with a further 73 in England now confirmed.
Investigations are now ongoing into the effects of the B.1.617 variant, which has caused a huge surge of new cases across India in recent weeks.
Despite international travel restrictions being strict in Scotland, the strain has been detected, however England has reported a much larger number of cases.
It comes as Scotland is imposing a hotel quarantine on all foreign travellers, while south of the border there are only a number of 'red list' countries which require the 10 day stay.
On Wednesday India registered more than 198,000 new cases which makes up more than a third of fresh infections registered across the world.
Scientists first identified the Indian variant in March and it was described by the government in New Delhi as a 'double mutant'.
They suggested that the mutation had formed as a hybrid of two other strains.
Currently, health officials have designated it a “variant under investigation” (VUI) rather than a “variant of concern” (VOC), such as the Manaus (Brazil) or South African variants.
The news comes just 10 days before travel within the UK is expected to go ahead, after border restrictions were enforced between Scotland and England to keep transmission at bay.
Travel within Scotland has begun from Friday (April 16), after the First Minister brought the date forward.
