Nicola Sturgeon has warned Scotland faces a "big risk" of importing new variants of the coronavirus if restrictions on international travel are lifted too soon.
The First Minister admitted lifting travel abroad "too quickly" last year which allowed the virus to re-seed amongst the population, which then lead to a second national lockdown.
Speaking on the Sophy Ridge on Sunday show, the SNP leader said Scots face living longer with international travel restrictions due to the risk of importing new strains of Covid-19.
She added: "The big risk that we face, not just in Scotland but in the UK, is the importation of new variants of the virus.
"Variants that might be faster spreading, that might be more severe, and crucially variants that might undermine the efficacy of the vaccines.
"We have to be very careful about that which is why I think one of the restrictions we're all going to have to live with for longer is a restriction on international travel.
"We must not allow the progress we are making domestically to be undermined by a too lax position on international travel."
"We probably opened up international travel too quickly so we allowed the virus to re-seed into our domestic population.
"I think it is important we try the best we can to avoid that in the weeks and months ahead."
Asked about the fast spreading Indian variant, Sturgeon said it wasn't a big concern at the moment in Scotland but did admit it was of interest.
"It is a variant of interest as oppose to a variant of concern," she added.
Speaking earlier, the UK Environment Secretary George Eustice said there is no evidence that the Indian variant of coronavirus is able to "get around" the vaccine.
He said: "The last I think I saw... there were around 70 cases. But I think I've seen lots of different numbers on different variants - you'll appreciate, there is quite a few - so it is a fairly small number at the moment. But it is something that we are watching.
"I'm told that there is no evidence at the moment that this particular variant is able to get around the vaccine, for instance, or indeed that it is necessarily more contagious than the others."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiU2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5cmVjb3JkLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvcG9saXRpY3Mvbmljb2xhLXN0dXJnZW9uLXdhcm5zLWJpZy1yaXNrLTIzOTM0Njcz0gEA?oc=5
2021-04-18 09:17:33Z
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