Fruit pickers reap quarantine reward

FRUIT pickers are among a series of new exemptions announced for Scotland’s quarantine hotels system.

The Scottish Government has added more groups to the list of workers who do not need to follow the tough rules.

Farms across the country rely on eastern European workers to pick flowers, fruit and vegetables in the spring and summer.

Fears had been raised that the requirement to pay £1,750 for ten days in a quarantine hotel would lead to major staff shortages. The list of exemptions now includes seasonal agricultural workers, some IT specialists and Network Rail workers.

But a senior Government official yesterday admitted he does ‘worry’ about the list of exemptions.

Just 22 people have been required to enter quarantine hotels since rules took effect on Monday, as many flights have been cancelled.

Scotland has the UK’s strictest system, with people arriving from anywhere abroad facing ten days of managed quarantine.

Bob Carruth, communications director of the National Farmers Union Scotland, welcomed the exemption for farm workers. He said: ‘The main season for seasonal workers is probably some weeks away but many will be starting to look for seasonal workers, primarily in the specialist horticultural sector, such as daffodils.

‘In the summer many more will be needed for soft fruit and for vegetables.’

Nicola Sturgeon has warned the international travel restrictions may be needed for some time.

Professor Jason Leitch, the Government’s national clinical director, told MSPs on the Covid-19 committee that the exemption list has been ‘recently reviewed’. He said: ‘I worry about the exemption list, if I’m honest, because you’ve heard me say consistently that importation of new virus and new variants is a risk, and exemptions make that more likely.

‘So therefore exemptions with mitigations has to be the way we do that... As those exemptions get a little more tricky then it gets harder to make those choices.

‘If there are only four divers in the whole world who can do that particular thing on an oil rig they should of course be exempt. But they should have mitigations in amongst keeping safe from Norway to Nigeria to Scotland.’

Asked about the impact on the Merchant Navy, Professor Leitch said that it does not have an exemption ‘in the round’ but elements of different exemptions will allow it to continue.

The Government guidelines say exemptions apply to people arriving from all countries, including those working on border security, defence personnel, diplomats and international prisoner escorts.

Others – as long as they do not travel from one of 33 ‘red list’ countries – are also exempt, including aerospace engineers, pilots and crew, lorry drivers, elite sportspeople, telecoms workers, nuclear personnel, specialist technical workers and people transporting human cells or blood.

To be exempt, seasonal agriculture workers must have a job on a named farm, and isolate there for ten days on arrival.

‘It gets harder to make choices’