From 4am on Friday 7 January people travelling to Scotland from abroad, who are fully vaccinated or under the age of 18, will no longer need to take pre-departure COVID-19 tests. They will also no longer be required to self isolate on arrival until they've received a negative result.
Travellers in this group will still need to take a test on or before day two after arriving in the UK – which can be a lateral flow device rather than a PCR test from Sunday 9 January.
Anyone who tests positive on their lateral flow test will need to isolate and take a free confirmatory PCR test.
The new measures apply across the UK after agreement between the UK Government and the three devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Pre-departure COVID-19 tests, the requirement to self-isolate and mandatory PCR tests were re-introduced in December to help stem the spread of the Omicron variant, but are now seen as less necessary because Omicron is now the dominant strain in the UK.
In addition, Ministers have agreed to approve vaccine certificates for a further 16 countries and territories from 4am on 10 January to allow quarantine-free travel to Scotland. The red list of highest risk countries will remain unchanged with no countries currently on the list.
All four nations are also discussing what the requirements should be for border travel in the future.