International Covid travel restrictions for Scotland to end this week
The new changes come into effect from 4am on Friday.
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Your support makes all the difference.Coronavirus restrictions on passengers travelling to Scotland from abroad are to end this week.
The announcement comes after a meeting between the four UK nations on Monday which decided all international travel restrictions for people arriving in the country will be lifted from 4am on Friday.
Fully vaccinated travellers will no longer be required to complete Passenger Locator Forms under the new change.
And non-vaccinated travellers will cease having to take pre-departure and day two PCR tests, or complete locator forms.
Officials, however, said monitoring by the UK Health Security Agency, a government agency responsible for protecting people from the impact of infectious diseases, nuclear incidents and other health threats, will continue.
They said this will continue with certain measures to enable a rapid response to “specific future scenarios”.
Despite the cross-UK decision, the Scottish Government said it was concerned about the new lack of border control measures and called on the UK Government to maintain some form of border surveillance.
However, given the reported negative impact of non-alignment on the tourism industry, it said it “reluctantly agreed on a four nation basis”.
The new changes will only apply to incoming travellers.
Passengers should continue to check gov.uk for the latest information on the requirements in other countries when travelling abroad.
Scotland’s Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said: “These measures significantly open up international travel and were agreed on a UK wide basis despite the Scottish Government raising concerns over the lack of border controls.
“However, we recognise the benefits of acting on a four nation basis and this will bring a high degree of normality back to travel and is extremely welcome for Scottish tourism, the aviation sector and travellers alike.”
He said the continued surveillance by the UK Health Security Agency could include tailored restrictions in the future where appropriate, and said people may wish to continue to observe measures such as frequent hand washing and respecting physical distancing when travelling.