Sturgeon considering travel ban for people from Covid hotspots

Ni cola Sturgeon is considering a Highland travel ban for those living in areas of high Covid-19 prevalence in the central belt, it has emerged.

At her daily coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon said her “very strong” advice at the moment was for people from places like Glasgow not to make the journey north.

But when asked about future travel restrictions, she also raised the prospect of compulsory bans to prevent people moving from coronavirus hotspots in the central belt to northern areas.

Representatives of the hospitality trade expressed dismay at the possibility of travel to the Highlands being outlawed, warning that such a move would spell the end for many businesses.

This week, the first minister signalled she was examining plans that could see people hit with fines for entering Scotland from Covid hotspots in other parts of the UK.

Ms Sturgeon said she was considering a legally enforceable cross-border travel ban and wrote to Boris Johnson requesting an urgent meeting of o ff ic ia ls to ensure “coherence” across the UK.

The Welsh Government has threatened people from high-risk parts of Scotland and England with fines of £50 if they travel there, an approach Ms Sturgeon said she backed.

During her briefing, Ms Sturgeon revealed Mr Johnson had replied to her letter to agree to fournations discussions on the issue.

However, Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Government would look at what steps it wanted to take in parallel with the cross-UK approach.

The first minister said she was “weighing up” whether that would involve putting in place regulations, “coupled with enforcement”, to prevent travel from high to low-prevalence areas.

When asked if she was looking at potentially banning people from areas “such as” Greater Glasgow and Clyde from visiting the Highlands , the first minister suggested such an approach was under consideration.

Ms Sturgeon said: “Right now my advice to people in Greater Glasgow and Clyde is not to go to the Highlands unless you really need to.”

The most recent data for this week show there were 67 positive cases reported in the NHS Highland area in the last seven days.

That compares favourably with the 2,349 reported in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the 1,743 in NHS Lanarkshire and the 960 in NHS Lothian over the same period.

Those three health boards, plus NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Forth Valley, have had extra restrictions imposed in a bid to beat back the virus.