Quarantine checks ‘up significantly’

There has been a “significant increase” in checks carried out on travellers arriving in Scotland from ove r s e a s t o e n s u r e t h e y are following quarantine r u l e s , t h e p u b l i c h e a l t h minister has said.

Jo e F i t z P a t r i c k t o l d a committee of MSPS the rise in calls was a “significant achievement” for staff at the national contact-tracing centre.

Speaking at Holyrood's health committee yesterd ay, h e s a i d t h a t f o r t h e we e k u p t o O c t o b e r 1 8 , there were 27,340 people arriving in Scotland.

O f t h e s e , 1 5 , 1 5 7 w e r e required to quarantine.

Mr Fitzpatrick said: “All that number were contacted via email. But, in addition, 3,132 were followed up by staff at the national contact centre. That's a significant increase and considerably above the 2,000 contacts that was our kind of rolling target.

“S o , t h a t ' s b e e n a s i g - nificant achievement for t h e c a l l c e n t r e t o h a v e increased that contact level.”