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Daily Record
Daily Record
Politics
Chris McCall

Scottish Government travel list updated as last remaining countries removed from red list

The last remaining seven countries on the Scottish Government's covid travel red list are set to be removed.

Passengers arriving from Colombia, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Venezuela and Ecuador will soon no longer have to quarantine in a hotel at their cost for 10 full days.

The decision will take effect from 4am on November 1 and applies across each of the four UK nations.

Red list countries are those the government said should not be visited "except in the most extreme of circumstances".

It was introduced as part of measures to reduce the potential risk from travellers infected with coronavirus.

Travellers arriving from a red list destination are currently required to spend 11 nights in a quarantine hotel at a cost of £2,285.

But it has been blamed for contributing to UK travel firms struggling to recover from the pandemic.

Vaccine certificates from a further 35 countries will also be recognised to allow quarantine-free travel to Scotland.

Despite no countries remaining on the red list from next week, the policy will continue and some managed quarantine capacity will stay in place in order to react to any change in risk assessment that could see a country added to the red list.

Transport minister Graeme Dey said: “Today’s decision is a further sign of the success of the Scottish Government’s vaccination programme and will enable the travel and tourism sector to take another step back towards normal operations.

“However, the pandemic is not over. The situation will be closely monitored and regularly reviewed and If the situation demands it we will not hesitate to re-impose restrictions on international travel to safeguard the health of our citizens and protect Scotland’s recovery.”

Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: “There’s no justification now for any country to be on a red list or for hotel quarantine to be in existence.

“There have been no new variants of concern since May and countries are now learning that blanket border measures, such as blocking whole countries, don’t work.

“The best approach is to check for an individual’s vaccine status and ensure they are up to date if they want to travel without restrictions.

“It’s encouraging that the UK Government have finally cottoned on to this."

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