Red list travel border scheme ‘inadequate’ says Scotland’s health minister

Scotland’s Health Secretary, Jeane Freeman, has said that the UK’s red list scheme for quarantining international arrivals is “inadequate.” This follows the arrival of the Brazilian strain of Covid-19 into the UK.

Six cases of the concerning P1 variant of coronavirus have been found in the UK, with three in England and three in Scotland.

The Brazilian variant was first discovered in the city of Manaus, on the edge of the Amazon rainforest. The three cases that have been recorded in Scotland were discovered in passengers who flew into Aberdeen from London Heathrow on Friday.

These cases were asymptomatic and tested positive whilst self-isolating. Other passengers on flight BA1312 are in the process of being contacted.

The Scottish health minister said that it was not thought that the Brazilian variant of Covid-19 is currently in circulation in Scotland, but underlined how attempts are being made to “identify and break any possible chains of transmission.”

During the Scottish Government’s daily coronavirus briefing, Ms 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 said that further research was needed to establish whether or not the current vaccines would be effective against the P1 variant and other “emerging strains.”

The Scottish health minister also highlighted how she does not think the way the UK Government is handling international travel is sufficient, saying that the “red list” was “inadequate.”

Ms Freeman added that international travel is still the “main area that we seek to persuade the UK Government to take steps on.”

Currently, all international passengers arriving at Scottish airports are obliged to enter the hotel quarantine system.

Meanwhile, the UK Government only requires people to do this if they are coming from countries which are on the “red list.” Most of these countries are in South America and Africa. However, the passengers who arrived into the UK with the new strain of the virus, came in through a loophole, via Paris.

Professor Devi Sridhar of Edinburgh University, an advisor to the Scottish Government, said in a tweet that the arrival of the Brazilian variant into the UK illustrated how the red list approach “doesn’t work.”

Ms Freeman agreed with Prof Sridhar’s assessment and said: “That’s why the Scottish Government has consistently argued that the red list as the sole means of introducing and providing managed quarantine is inadequate.”

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier defended the government’s stance on international travel, saying that the country’s quarantine measures were a “very tough regime.”

Speaking from a school in Stoke-on-Trent, the prime minister said: “We have got one of the toughest border regimes anywhere in the world for stopping people coming into this country who may have variants of concern.”

This comes as officials continue their hunt for the sixth person in the UK with the Brazilian variant. The individual has so far been untraceable, since they did not correctly fill in their registration form to go with their home test kit.