SCOTLAND'S Covid rates are now so high that the country should be on the RED list, according to one expert.

Professor Tim Spector, epidemiologist at King's College London who leads the Zoe symptom tracking app, also said that the case rate highlights the confusing travel restrictions for destinations abroad.

Professor Spector said: "Travel restrictions are arbitrary and don't make much sense.

"The rates are so high in Scotland that it would be on the red list if it were by this criteria."

Scotland has an estimated 70,000 active cases right now, which works out to around one in 78 people in Scotland.

Up to 124 people per 100,000 are catching Covid each day in Scotland, with daily cases jumping by more than 7,000 in 24 hours earlier this week.

People in hospital have risen from 78 to 883, with Nicola Sturgeon warning Scotland was still seeing "very high" levels of infection.

Similar sentiments were echoed regarding Cornwall, where cases spiked to be the highest in the UK after tourists flocked to the coastal hotspot – with one expert saying it was safer to travel to red-list Chile instead.

Professor Spector also warned regional lockdowns could return this winter if parts of the UK continue to see spiralling cases.

He explained: “The only region going up is Scotland, and it's high and getting higher, and it's the highest ever incidence rate we've seen since we started collecting our records.

"Some sort of regional restrictions might be coming as we approach flu season in some areas."

The Zoe app leader said that other countries such as Spain are not only doing better than the UK, but have scrapped most of their restrictions – calling for the UK to do the same.

He added: "All other EU countries have pretty much abandoned testing. That should be next on our agenda for more normality."

The travel industry has called to end the traffic light scheme, which puts countries on a green, amber or red list depending on it's Covid cases and vaccine rollout.

However, the system has led to expensive tests and confusing restrictions – which saw the introduction of a green watchlist and now-scrapped amber plus list – but experts warn they make "no sense".

It is hoped that the traffic light scheme could be scrapped from next month, leaving just the red list while the green and amber lists will no longer exist.

However, how this will affect testing has not been confirmed, with unvaxxed travellers potentially facing more restrictions.

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