‘Special isolation’ for tourists who test positive for virus during island holidays

Tourists who test positive for coronavirus while on holiday on Scotland’s islands will be expected to travel home, potentially using special isolation facilities on board ferries to stop the further spread of the virus.

Tourism secretary Fergus Ewing said ferry companies in Scotland had been asked to “make arrangements to provide for isolation” if a passenger has tested positive for Covid-19 and is returning home.

Speaking at a virtual meeting of the culture, tourism, Europe and external affairs committee, Mr Ewing said tourists would be expected to order a test if they developed symptoms while on holiday.

Responding to a question from Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Beatrice Wishart, Mr Ewing said: “If a guest who, after the restrictions are lifted, is in a self-catering property and considers that he or she has symptoms, then a test should be capable of being arranged through the local resilience group or GP.

“If the test is positive, the individual should proceed to go home. The individual should not stay where he or she is. They should go home, preferably in a private motor vehicle rather than public transport.

“Obviously there will be a need to get the ferry in almost all cases and we have therefore asked the ferry operators to make arrangements to provide for isolation of any such individual, so that they can be separated from the other people and passengers on the ferry and indeed the staff.

“That may depend on the size of the ferry because they come in all shapes and sizes. That may be an easy thing to do or it may be a very complicated thing to do, on smaller ferries in particular.

“The general advice is if somebody has the virus and is tested positive for it, they should go home, they should not stay where they are.”