MORE than 8000 visitors a week are continuing to arrive in Scotland from home and abroad without health checks while the nation continues to be in lockdown and undergo social distancing in the coronavirus pandemic, it has emerged.

Estimates provided to the Herald reveal that while arrivals from home and abroad at Scotland's airports have been decimated by the global pandemic, thousands continue to come into the country but without any testing or quarantining for the virus whatsoever.

While other countries have brought in levels of testing and quarantining for arrivals, there are no such measures at UK airports.

One repatriated Scot, who was forced to spend hundreds of pounds to return home after being stranded in Peru for weeks, has told of his surprise at the lack of checks in the UK when making his return.

READ MORE: Scots businessman trapped in Peru gets home and is surprised by lack of corona checks

Forty-nine-year-old businessman Gordon Livingstone (below), one of an estimated 100 British nationals who have been trapped in Peru for over three weeks since a lockdown, said the situation at Heathrow where he finally arrived appeared "pretty lax".

According to figures provided to the Herald, Scottish airports are only handling around 3% of the over 260,000 passengers that would usually come into the country on a typical week. It still amounts to over 1000 a day.

But the UK government has decided against health checks for people arriving into airports.

South Korea has ten times the population of Scotland but with just 230 deaths from Covid-19 on Friday has 29% of our fatalities. The east Asian nation, with a population of 51.64m, has 1.67% of the death toll of the UK, which has a population of 66.65m.

A key to the success of South Korea, which was among the first countries to bring the outbreak under control, was a containment strategy that involved stepping up border controls.

Rather than outright bans, South Korea is using widespread testing and technology-enabled tracking to allow people to travel to the country. Mandatory testing and quarantines apply to nearly all arrivals from overseas, including citizens.

South Korea’s Incheon International Airport has 16 open-air testing booths at five locations spread around the airport’s two terminals. They are capable of testing up to 2,000 people a day for Covid 19 — at a pace of testing one person every five minutes.

Those who don’t show symptoms will also be tested within three days.

READ MORE: Scots businessman trapped in Peru gets home and is surprised by lack of corona checks

All arrivals must also download a government app that tracks their location and requires users to report any symptoms. Then everyone, regardless of nationality or whether they tested negative, must self-isolate for two weeks.

Analysis at the start of April calculated that more than 130 countries had introduced some form of travel restrictions since the coronavirus outbreak began including screening, quarantine and bans on travel from high risk areas.

According to Pew Research Center analysis it means at least 90 per cent of the global population lives in countries with restrictions on non-citizens and non-residents arriving from abroad, while 39 per cent live behind borders that are entirely closed to foreigners.

Since then China, Germany, Japan are among countries that have tightened or extended travel controls, while many require arriving passengers to be tested.

Since mid-March the US has banned entry for travellers from all of Europe, including Britain.

At the same time New Zealand began enforcing a 14-day quarantine period for those entering the country including returning Kiwis.

Personnel from 2@The_SCOTS alongside @BootsUK staff, are carrying out COVID-19 testing at Glasgow Airport. In the middle of training for deployment later this year, they have changed roles to support front line staff and keyworkers in the response to COVID-19. #InThisTogether pic.twitter.com/NA1kAH88Fd — British Army (@BritishArmy) April 15, 2020

Glasgow Airport has been transformed one of its car parks into a "large-scale testing area" in response to the coronavirus pandemic... but it is not for passengers. It is for front-line NHS staff.

In Japan, prime minister Shinzo Abe announced on April 1 that existing entry bans would be extended to travellers from 73 countries, including the US, UK and Canada.

Edinburgh Airport has remained Scotland's busiest with around 1,600 a day going through the terminal - but that is typically 96% down on a typical 24 hours.

An airport source said: "Testing is really a question for the Scottish Government. Airports aren’t health professionals or policy makers so those decisions aren’t made by us. As yet, we’ve not been asked to put in any measures beyond providing information to arriving passengers.

"Airlines will also speak with arriving passengers on the plane about the Government guidance."

It was a similar picture at Aberdeen airport where their 4000 arriving passengers a day had been reduced to 175 - and that does not include workers being taken to and from rigs by helicopter. Approximately 10% of the travellers will be from outside of the UK.

Glasgow Airport has seen the most dramatic decline in business, with 100 passengers arriving a day, when a typical April day would see between 10,000 and 12,500.

Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd whose 11 airports including Inverness and Dundee would deal with around 16,950 arriving passengers a week has seen that drop to 524.

The firm said questions about coronavirus restrictions at airports was "one for the governments".

Professor Gabriel Scally, president of epidemiology and public health at the Royal Society of Medicine said the UK Government's approach to airports was difficult to understand.

"The UK is a complete outlier in terms of border controls and it simply doesn't make sense going forward for that to continue to be the situation.

"After all the hard effort that has gone into lockdown to stop transmission, it would be wrong if we are still in the situation where restrictions are lifted where people from all round the world can come into the country and potentially bring infection with them. I strongly support restrictions on travel on public health grounds and public health scrutiny of people coming into the country from elsewhere.

"It makes particular sense for places like Scotland which still has a relatively small number of cases where after this lockdown is over there is a real chance of getting a really tight grip on the virus and really suppressing it."

A UK Government spokesman said: “Our approach to tackling coronavirus is and has always been driven by the latest scientific and medical advice, and procedures at the border have been strictly following the latest PHE [Public Health England] guidance throughout. In line with that advice, no changes have been required at the UK border.

“Travel into the UK has dropped significantly in response to the coronavirus outbreak but it’s important that commercial routes are kept open to make sure that British people overseas can get home, to support our supply chains, and to ensure the delivery of vital freight and equipment.”

The government says that to bolster public health measures already in place, passengers at airports are provided with information on symptoms and the social distancing processes.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “While border control is reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government is closely following the most up to date guidance from Health Protection Scotland (HPS) when it comes to travellers arriving at Scottish airports. We are ensuring that airports are providing all the health facilities and services that HPS advises.

“The Scottish Government continues to have regular discussions with HPS and if health protection advice changes, we will ensure airports act accordingly.”

News from trusted and credible sources is essential at all times, but especially now as the coronavirus pandemic impacts on all aspects of our lives. To make sure you stay informed during this difficult time our coverage of the crisis is free.

However, producing The Herald's unrivalled analysis, insight and opinion on a daily basis still costs money and, as our traditional revenue streams collapse, we need your support to sustain our quality journalism.

To help us get through this, we’re asking readers to take a digital subscription to The Herald. You can sign up now for just £2 for two months.

If you choose to sign up, we’ll offer a faster loading, advert-light experience – and deliver a digital version of the print product to your device every day.

Click here to help The Herald: https://www.heraldscotland.com/subscribe/

Thank you, and stay safe.