The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
‘Please let me help mum’
When Morag Davite heard her dad had taken ill last week, she boarded the first plane she could from her home in Rwanda to be with her elderly parents in Aberdeen.
As she was en route to Scotland, via Brussels, her 85-year-old father James Mackay’s health took a turn for the worse.
It was only as she finally touched down in Aberdeen that she learned her “kind, funny and proud” father had died.
Morag is now in quarantine in the Sandman Hotel for 10 days, while her 88-year-old mum Louise grieves the sudden loss of her husband of 62 years at home alone.
Despite repeatedly testing negative for Covid, current guidelines do not allow her to isolate with her mum in Bridge of Don.
The doting daughter is now desperately pleading with the Scottish Government to consider making compassionate exceptions to the strict rules.
Morag explained that James, a former policeman who latterly worked as a security guard for The Beechgrove Garden, suffered a fall a few weeks ago and contracted a lung infection as he was recovering.
She said that her original plan was to travel from Rwanda to Aberdeen to help her mum take care of her dad as he got better.
Morag said: “Rwanda is on the red list for Scotland, but green for Belgium, so I flew to Brussels before coming here.
“I had to isolate for 10 days there, and had no idea my dad was going to take a turn for the worse.
“The plan was to go home to Bridge of Don, and I expected my dad to be there.
“I’d been in Belgium for four days when I found out dad had been taken into hospital and was getting very weak.”
Under exemptions that allow people to travel to be with dying relatives, Morag was able to cut short her stay in Belgium to fly to Aberdeen.
She had travelled about 4,450 miles by the time she reached the city and spent more than £1,000 on flights.
Morag added: “On Saturday morning the hospital phoned mum and asked her to come in, and I was told I needed to get there urgently.
“I tested negative for Covid at the Brussels airport and flew from there on Sunday morning.”
The 58-year-old was able to keep in touch with her parents through nurses while her dad was being looked after at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
It was shortly after she landed that they broke the tragic news to her.
Morag said: “The nurses were so great with my mum, but now I should be at home with her helping her with everything.
“I’ve emailed the Scottish Government about my mum being at home, and I have had so many negative tests over the past few days that I had hoped I could isolate there.
“But I’ve been told I just have to wait my 10 days, it seems like a blanket policy. I’m sure there must be many others in this situation.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We have every sympathy with Ms Davite in this difficult situation. However, the rules around international travel are in place to limit the risk of importing new cases and variants and there are very limited exemptions to the quarantine rules.
“Overseas travellers are urged to be aware of the international travel restrictions in place.”