Contact tracers in plea to air passengers

PASSENGERS who flew up to Scotland with three travellers later found to have a new strain of coronavirus are being urged to call contact tracers.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman had previously said that all those on board the BA1312 flight from Heathrow to Aberdeen on January 29 would be called.

While she said that work was continuing, Ms Freeman said correct details were not available for all travellers.

And she appealed for anyone who was on the flight to contact the NHS National Contact Tracing Centre.

The Health Secretary said: “Because not all the data we have received about the passengers is correct, we are asking anyone on that flight who did not provide up-to-date contact details to call the NHS National Contact Tracing Centre on 0800 030 8012.”

The Health Secretary said that this new P1 variant of coronavirus, first detected in the Brazilian city of Manaus, was “of concern in terms of both the possibility that it is more contagious than the current dominant Covid-19 strain in Scotland, and how it responds to the current vaccines”.

Her comments came after it emerged on Sunday that there were six cases in the UK of the new strain.