Scotland introduces 10-day quarantine for passengers arriving from Dubai

Measures are effective from 4am on Monday to stem the UK's coronavirus crisis

A man wearing a face mask walks past a coronavirus sign outside a bank in Glasgow, the morning after stricter lockdown measures came into force for Scotland, on January 5, 2021. Andrew Milligan / PA

Latest: Travellers to UK face quarantine on arrival from UAE

Scotland has imposed a mandatory 10-day quarantine on all passengers arriving from Dubai.

Authorities said it introduced the rule after a number of positive cases were detected in travellers flying into Glasgow since the start of the new year.

The new requirement was announced just hours before it entered into force at 4am on Monday.

All passengers who have travelled to Scotland from Dubai since January 3 have also been asked to self-isolate.

“This preventive action addresses the significant rise in cases of coronavirus, and the increase in the numbers of cases testing positive in Scotland," the Scottish government said in a statement.

The news came after a positive case of Covid-19 was confirmed among Scotland's Celtic Football Club squad, two days after it returned from a six-day training camp in Dubai last week.

The UAE is on the UK’s travel corridor list, which means passengers travelling from the Emirates do not have to quarantine on arrival.

However, last week the UK, which is currently on a strict lockdown, announced all international arrivals would need to present a negative coronavirus test before travelling there.

The move, designed to limit the spread of spiralling Covid-19 cases in the country, means all travellers, including British citizens, will have to take a test up to 72 hours before departing for the UK.

Scotland, where a record number of patients are currently being treated in hospitals with recently-confirmed Covid-19, imposed the additional measure to address the” significant rise” in cases, and the increase in the numbers of cases testing positive in Scotland.

Failure to comply with the requirement to quarantine could result in a fine of more than £480, the Scottish government said.

Scotland announced 1,877 new cases of the virus on Sunday, and a positivity rate of 10 per cent among new tests, a figure which has been rising in recent weeks.

“It is evident, both in Scotland and in countries across the world, that the virus continues to pose real risks to health and to life and we need to interrupt the rise in cases,” said Scotland's transport secretary Michael Matheson.

“Imposing quarantine requirements on those arriving in the UK is our first defence in managing the risk of imported cases from communities with high risks of transmission."

Cases in the UAE have also risen in recent days, from just under 1,000 per day in early January to almost 3,000 a day since. The rise is believed to be due to Christmas and the new year period, and mass testing as people return to work.

The UAE has bolstered its vaccination programme in recent days with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Sinopharm shots deployed by health authorities.

The country said more than 250,000 people in the UAE have been fully vaccinated against the virus.

That means around about 2.5 per cent of the country's population has received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine since the start of the major inoculation drive in mid-December.