Visitors to Scotland must show proof of negative Covid test from Friday, says Nicola Sturgeon

Speaking at the Scottish Government’s daily coronavirus briefing on Tuesday, the First Minister said those arriving in the country after 4am on Friday will need evidence from the past three days that they have tested negative.

Ms Sturgeon stressed that the test will need to be “highly reliable”, most likely meaning it will have to be a PCR test.

Young children may be exempt from the requirement.

She said: “I want to be very clear here, this requirement for testing before entry to the country is seen not as a substitute for the protections and mitigations in place, but as an addition to those.

“Testing before entry to the country is not a magic solution to the risk of cases being imported, so it will reinforce rather than replace our current travel restrictions.”

Those travelling from countries not on the quarantine exemption list will still need to self-isolate on arrival.

It comes as Scotland recorded 54 deaths from coronavirus and 1,875 positive tests in the last 24 hours.

Ms Sturgeon said this figure is particularly distressing, as it takes the total number of deaths with Covid over 5000 deaths.

It brings the death toll under this measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – to 5,023.

The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the cabinet are continuing deliberations over tightening restrictions.

Ministers met early on Tuesday but the First Minister hinted that no decision was reached.

She is due to update the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday, where any decision is expected to be announced.

She said: “As I indicated yesterday, one of the things we discussed was whether there are any areas – takeaway, click-and-collect services being two examples – where we think there is a need to further tighten restrictions to reduce occasions and reasons for people to be out of their homes at the moment.

“We are continuing to consider these options a little bit further and I can tell you I will update parliament tomorrow on any decisions that we reach over the course of the day.”

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