FOREIGN summer holidays this year will be challenging, Scotland’s national clinical director has said.
Officials in Scotland are currently working on a “digital solution” to how to prove who has been tested and vaccinated against coronavirus, and how that could potentially assist the re-opening of society.
Professor Jason Leitch said the question of what “Covid certification” would allow you to do is one for policy-makers and airlines.
He said there have been high levels of cases recently in countries such as India, Estonia, Hungary and Bulgaria, and warned “we’ve got to be careful, we don’t want to burst what we’ve achieved”.
He told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme yesterday: “I think international leisure travel in the summer will be challenging.
“I’m hopeful that some of it might exist, I would like to go, I’m hopeful that bits of that will exist, I think it will be gradual, I don’t think it will be suddenly we’re all back to normal, all bets are off, we can all go to the beach.
“I think there will be time and countries that we bring back gradually because it’s crucial both for individuals and society but it’s also crucial for the industries that rely on that travel, the airlines, the travel industry more broadly.”
The latest Covid-19 statistics for Scotland show one death of someone with the virus was recorded in the last 24 hours, and 255 new cases.
It takes the death toll under the daily measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – to 7647.
READ MORE: Police lock gates to Scottish city park over anti-social boozing
Leitch said Covid certification could include information about things such as a person’s test status, whether they have been vaccinated, if they have undergone antibody testing or have had Covid-19, as well as details about where they live.
He said: “That kind of Covid certification I think will become something that the world needs and the WHO [World Health Organisation] are looking at that even as we speak.
“Remember how quickly we did the vaccination programme, we went from zero to tens of thousands in days and have continued that process, another 50,000 done yesterday, so in parallel with that process, and so as not to delay it, we’re also working on a digital solution to who’s been tested, who’s been vaccinated.
“But the more important question is almost what does that mean, and that’s not really for clinical advisers, that’s really more for policy leaders and politicians about what it will allow you to do, and the private sector, the airlines and others, about who will make choices about who they allow on their planes and who they allow into their institutions.”
Meanwhile, people heading to the countryside as lockdown restrictions ease are being urged to respect nature after “unacceptable” behaviour last year.
Scotland’s environment agencies are calling on people to follow the three simple principles behind the Scottish Outdoor Access Code – care for the environment, respect the interests of others, and be responsible for your own actions.
It comes after some areas were blighted by litter, human waste and abandoned campsites left by anti-social visitors in 2020.
Organisations including NatureScot, VisitScotland, Forestry and Land Scotland and the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national parks have launched a new campaign urging people to “respect, protect and enjoy” Scotland’s countryside safely.
The campaign is asking all outdoor visitors to “respect other people, protect the environment and enjoy responsibly”.
It also urges people to go to the toilet before travelling as facilities may not be open where they are going, and to be prepared to take their waste home if on a longer trip.
People are advised to remember physical distancing when outdoors, avoid crowds and have a back-up plan if their initial destination is too busy.
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