Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "This was a very difficult decision, but was made based on evidence and motivated only by the determination to protect Scotland as much as possible from a resurgence of this virus".

The exempt countries, which include France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, among others, were selected taking into account the low rate of infections in the countries with coronavirus, she explained during the daily press conference on the crisis, and added that the list will be revised on 20 July.

“We will be in contact next week with the relevant authorities, as well as with airports and airlines, to gather more information on outbreak control, prevalence and other mitigation measures that we can put in place as an alternative”,

The British government announced last Friday a more extensive list of countries exempt from the 14-day quarantine currently applied to all arrivals from abroad, but it only affects England because Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have autonomy in health matters.

In addition to England and Scotland, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Belgium and other countries also maintain restrictions on travellers from Portugal.