People arriving
in Scotland will be able to use private sector tests when returning, or
visiting, from green or amber list countries under a change to international
travel restrictions from early September.
This will
allow people to choose from a list of approved providers when booking the tests
they will need to take after arriving in Scotland. People
previously had to book NHS home PCR tests via the UK Government’s booking
portal.
Cabinet secretary
for health and social care Humza Yousaf said: “The step provides more choice
and flexibility for travellers and will provide a boost for the tourism and
aviation sector.
“We have
had regular engagement with the UK Government to understand the measures being
taken to ensure test results will be communicated rapidly and reliably to both
individuals and to contact tracing services.
“We have also
been reassured that any positive results will be genomically sequenced to
quickly identify any variants of concern.
“The decision
carefully weighs the benefit to the travel sector against our responsibility to
the wider public health, and is a further endorsement of the resounding success
of our domestic vaccination roll out.”
A
spokesman for two of Scotland’s major airports said the decision was overdue.
“Whilst welcome, [this] decision should have been made months
ago and only brings Scotland into line with the rest of the UK, which is
already lagging well behind competing European markets in terms of recovery,”
the spokesman said.
“The Scottish
Government needs to start planning now for the meaningful recovery of
international travel and the vital connectivity it delivers for the country. We
see no reason why testing cannot by scrapped for fully-vaccinated travellers
into Scotland, and for those arriving from low-risk countries as is the case
across the rest of Europe.”