Quarantine checks for international travellers to start following delay

People arriving at Scottish airports including Aberdeen could be subject to random quarantine checks from today (Tuesday) - after a delay of several weeks.

A policy was brought in on June 8 to instruct anyone coming back to the UK from abroad to self-isolate for 14 days, in an attempt to prevent the possible spread of coronavirus.

The UK has since scrapped the rule for dozens of destinations.

No decision has yet been taken in Scotland, meaning all international travellers - with some exemptions - need to follow the guidelines.

But it emerged on Sunday that no checks had yet taken place north of the border. 

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says this was down to a delay in an agreement being reached with the Home Office on allowing officials in Scotland to access systems before checks could be made.

An agreement was reached on Friday, meaning checks can start taking place today.

At her briefing yesterday, Ms Sturgeon admitted it was not ideal to have a delay.

But she said there was "no  suggestion there has not been high compliance with the quarantine measures" for travellers.

She added: "While it has taken a little bit of time to do that it now means we have this system fully embedded within our public health infrastructure here in Scotland so we are not reliant on Public Health England carrying out these checks for us."