Covid in Scotland: No decision yet on self-isolation rules
- Published
Tens of thousands of pupils have been sent home to isolate after someone else tested positive
The Scottish government has not yet decided whether to follow England in changing the self-isolation rules for school pupils and people who have been double vaccinated.
Scotland's education secretary said the government was "looking very seriously" at whether it can make changes.
Shirley-Anne Somerville said decisions would be taken "as soon as we can".
But she said any decision would be based on the clinical advice and guidance the government is given.
The UK government announced on Tuesday that fully vaccinated people in England will not have to self-isolate if a close contact tests positive for Covid from 16 August.
The same policy will also apply to anyone under the age of 18 from that date, while the system of "bubbles" in schools that sees pupils being sent home after a positive case will also be axed.
There have been calls for the Scottish government to introduce similar changes north of the border, where thousands of pupils have missed out on learning due to having to self-isolate.
Ms Somerville told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme that the absence rates in Scottish schools was about 4% at the end of the school term.
But only 3% of those actually had Covid - with the vast majority of absent pupils only being off school because they had to self-isolate after someone else tested positive.
Meanwhile, researchers from the London School of Economics and the University of Exeter have found that pupils in Scotland lost out on an average of 64 days of learning time during the pandemic - about a third of the school year.
They also concluded that the poorest pupils suffered larger learning losses than their richer peers.
Ms Somerville said any decisions would be based on the expert advice the government is given
Ms Somerville said this was why the government was "looking very seriously about whether we can make to changes to the self-isolation measures that are in place for children and young people as we move into the next academic year".
She said following England in scrapping school bubbles was "certainly one option" that was being explored by the Covid Education Recovery Group.
But she added: "I think people would expect us to go through that due process to make sure that parents, young people and staff have the confidence that the guidance we are putting together is fit for purpose, and that we've worked through that process together."
Ms Somerville also said potentially having different isolation rules for fully vaccinated people was being "actively reviewed" as a potential way of easing staffing pressures in hospitals, schools and other public services.
Raigmore Hospital in Inverness was placed on "code black" status earlier this week after reaching capacity amid increasing Covid cases, with the local health board saying the pressure was partly due to large numbers of staff having to self-isolate.
Raigmore hospital is under significant pressure partly because so many staff are having to isolate
However, Ms Somerville stressed that the government also had a duty to protect those who have not had both doses.
She said: "This is something that would benefit different parts of the population, different sectors of the economy.
"But again we must look at the evidence, we must look to see whether that's the right thing to do at this point of the virus because the virus is very much still here."
Meanwhile, all travel restrictions between Scotland and the north west of England are to be lifted, with the ban on non-essential trips to Blackburn with Darwen to expire at midnight.
And Scotland's health secretary has defended taking a family holiday to the Harry Potter studios near London during Scotland's surge in Covid cases.
Humza Yousaf said he would not apologise for spending time with his family as they have seen very little of him over the last seven months.
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Details of the trip were revealed by the Scottish Sun newspaper, external.
Scottish Conservative chief whip Stephen Kerr questioned whether it was appropriate for the health secretary to "disappear" while Scotland continues to have some of the highest Covid rates in Europe.
Mr Kerr said: "People are continuing to make huge sacrifices to ensure we can return to normality and that will include missing out on holidays."
