Quarantine rules lifted for Spain

Border health measures requiring people to quarantine for 14 days on arrival into Scotland are being lifted for those arriving from Spain.

The decision, which has been taken following a thorough review of infection prevalence rates, means that mainland Spain and the Spanish islands will be added later this week to the list of destinations exempt from the two-week quarantine rule.

All international travellers arriving into Scotland, apart from a very limited number of exemptions, must complete a passenger locator form and provide evidence that they have done so on arrival in the UK if requested to do so by a Border Force official. Individuals who do not complete the form and present it when asked on arrival may be fined £60. A fine which could be doubled for each subsequent offence up to a maximum of £480.

Since Friday 10 July, passengers arriving in Scotland from 57 overseas destinations and 14 UK overseas territories that reported similar or lower levels of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection than Scotland were no longer required to self-isolate.

Exemptions from the self-isolation requirement are kept under regular review and any increase in the prevalence of the virus could result in the requirements being put back in place

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said:

“Following this latest review and having carefully considered the potential public health impact of changing the country exemptions for quarantine, we are able to lift that requirement for those travelling from Spain. We are continuously keeping other countries under review and where there is clear evidence that it is safe to do so, we will add further countries

“Clearly the virus has not gone away. It is still active and it is still deadly. With the quarantine restrictions being lifted from these countries this means we have to be even more careful about what we are doing.

“Anyone travelling should follow public health advice at all times including wearing face coverings, avoiding crowded places, washing hands and surfaces, staying two metres apart and self-isolating if they get symptoms and immediately registering for a test.”

Background

Passengers arriving in Scotland will no longer need to quarantine provided they have not been in a non-exempted country in the previous 14 days.

Public health rules for international travel are an important part of Scotland’s wider response to the COVID-19 pandemic to limit the introduction of new chains of transmission of the virus as the country’s own infection rates have been falling.

The existing requirements to self-isolate for 14 days if travelling from a non-exempted country and for all passengers to complete a passenger locator form remain in place. The measures were initially introduced across the UK and applied to travellers arriving from all countries outwith the Common Travel Area (CTA)

Those travelling abroad should check in advance if there are any requirements to quarantine on arrival at their destination.

The existing list of overseas destinations where the self-isolation requirements for those arriving in Scotland are exempt IS:

Andorra; Antigua and Barbuda; Aruba; Australia; Austria; The Bahamas; Barbados; Belgium; Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba; Croatia; Curaçao; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Dominica; Faroe Islands; Fiji; Finland; France; French Polynesia; Germany; Greece; Greenland; Grenada; Guadeloupe; Hong Kong; Hungary ; Iceland; Italy; Jamaica; Japan; Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg; Macau; Malta; Mauritius; Monaco; The Netherlands ; New Caledonia; New Zealand; Norway; Poland ; Réunion; San Marino ;Seychelles; St Barthélemy; St Kitts & Nevis; St Lucia; St Pierre and Miquelon; South Korea; Switzerland; Taiwan; Trinidad & Tobago; Turkey; Vatican City State and Vietnam.

The fourteen UK overseas territories also on the list of exemptions are: Akrotiri and Dhekelia; Anguilla; Bermuda; British Antarctic Territory; British Indian Ocean Territory; British Virgin Islands; Cayman Islands; Falkland Islands; Gibraltar; Montserrat; Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands; Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha; South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands.