There is no reason to believe that the Brazilian strain of Covid-19 is in circulation in Scotland but efforts to “identify and break any possible chains of transmission” are ongoing, Jeane Freeman has said.
Six UK cases of the concerning P1 variant first detected in the Brazilian city of Manaus have been identified: three in England and three in Scotland.
The three Scottish cases were found in asymptomatic passengers who flew into Aberdeen on the BA1312 flight from London Heathrow on Friday.
They tested positive while self-isolating and contact tracing of other passengers on the flight is currently ongoing.
Standing in for Nicola Sturgeon at today's media briefing, Freeman said: “If you were on that flight and have not yet been contacted, you will be contacted shortly, so please wait for that.
“I want to stress that there is currently no reason to believe that the P1 variant of the virus is in circulation in Scotland, however, I hope this summary reassures you that we are doing everything we can and everything necessary to check whether this variant of the virus could have been transmitted within Scotland and to identify and break any possible chains of transmission.”
She added: “We know that current vaccines are effective against the strains of the virus which have already been established in the UK.
“However, more work is required to determine that this remains the case for emerging strains of the virus, such as the one we are highlighting today from Brazil.”
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