A TOP public health expert has warned England’s lax quarantine rules are hampering Scotland’s attempts to suppress Covid-19.

Professor Linda Bauld echoed concerns from the Scottish Government that “loopholes” in the Westminster plan could allow people to travel to Scotland via England without first going into isolation.

As of this morning, those coming to Scotland from overseas will have to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days. In England, that rule only applies to travellers from 33 "red list" countries.

Bauld called for a four-nations approach to ensure people travelling from hotspot countries aren’t able to travel north undetected.

She told BBC Scotland’s The Nine: “I’ve been saying for a long time, as have many in public health, that a managed quarantine is essential. But we’ve now got this halfway house where Scotland is adopting a more comprehensive approach – although not all stakeholders feel they’re involved in that and that’s important to get right – and England is leaving a number of gaps in the systems.

“So if I decide to travel and I come back in via Heathrow I can easily jump on a train and go back to Scotland without necessarily authorities being aware.

“I really, really hope in this instance we can have a four-nations approach and if the English position around it only being applied to those 33 red list countries is going to continue, there needs to be a mechanism for identifying if those people are coming into Scotland and have been overseas, and are coming perhaps by rail or by road.”

READ MORE: Hotel quarantine: UK Government 'loophole' puts Scotland at risk as Raab rejects tougher rules

It comes after Scottish Transport Secretary Michael Matheson warned travellers could use a "loophole" that would allow them to dodge the £1750-a-head accommodation cost by landing in England and heading across the Border by road.

The Scottish Government wants all travellers who arrive in England for onward travel to Scotland to be placed into quarantine before that journey is allowed.

But the UK Foreign Secretary has dismissed the idea of tougher regulations on international arrivals. Dominic Raab has said he's confident his administration has "the right balance" of "robust measures, but targeted measures".

Matheson has accused Westminster of a "failure to take action on the basis of the clinical and expert advice that has been provided" and his team will "continue to press the UK Government" for change.

He said: "The danger is that if they don't act on this matter, they potentially undermine the public health approach here in Scotland. That's unacceptable.

"It's absolutely critical that the UK Government act on the clinical advice and that they put these arrangements in place to help to support our programme here in Scotland, if they're not prepared to do it for England."

The SNP minister acknowledged that border checks would be "very challenging".

He said: "The challenge you have with trying to achieve it through border checks between Scotland and England is just the thousands of vehicles that cross that particular route each day.

"It's something that's obviously an operational matter for the Chief Constable, but actually trying to operationalise it would be very challenging indeed.

"That's why the simplest and the safest approach to dealing with this is to have a comprehensive system in place.

"And if the UK Government aren't prepared to do that, we could resolve the issue by simply ensuring those who are transferring on to Scotland have to go to a quarantine facility near to the airport they arrive at in England."

UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said this morning that he was "happy to have conversations" with the Scottish Government about providing quarantine facilities for people arriving in England, before onward travel to Scotland.