and protect. requiring the scale of infrastructure in place for the longer term. the plan will also confirm the duration beyond the end of march of any transition period during which the system will operate broadly on the same basis as now. the public health reasons for ensuring a careful phased transition from the current arrangements to a more targeted testing system are obviously the most important. we should also remember that hundreds of people in test and protect, a testing sites across the country, and in our processing labs, including glasgow light has come have worked tirelessly to keep us safe over the last two years and these decisions affect theirjobs and livelihoods, a point seemingly overlooked by the uk government yesterday. let me record our thanks to them today and give an assurance that the scottish government will engage closely with them in the weeks ahead. as we do this work in the coming weeks and for the
testing. i am frustrated at the uk government s testing. i am frustrated at the uk government s decision. testing. i am frustrated at the uk| government s decision. however, current funding arrangements mean that while taxpayers in all four uk nations contribute to the costs, it s decisions taken for england that determine the resources available for scotland, wales and northern ireland for coronavirus measures. we have no clarity how much structure this is. no clarity on whether the treasury will provide additional resources or demand instead that funding is taken from elsewhere in the health budget. i hope we do get this clarity soon so we can set out in more detail our own longer term approach to testing. i want to given an assurance now that the scottish government is determined to retain a testing system providing scotland with strong resilience against future coronavirus rates and aligned with public health advice and the principles underpinning our national health service. t
arrangements mean that while taxpayers in all four uk nations contribute to the cost, it is decisions taken for england that determine the resources available to scotland, wales and northern ireland, for testing and other covid measures. as of now, we have no clarity on how much of the covid testing infrastructure the uk government intends to retain, no clarity on how much investment will support it in future, and no clarity on whether the treasury will provide additional resources or demand instead that funding is taken from elsewhere in the health budget. i hope we get this clarity soon so that we can then set out in more detail our own longer term approach to testing. i want to give an assurance now that the scottish government is determined to retain a robust testing system capable of providing scotland with strong resilience against future covid threats, and firmly aligned with public health advice and the principles underpinning our national health
by the labour party as a u turn but i think the government would say it was a decision that had never been made, so a policy that has been parked rather than you turned on. we re still waiting for the decisions on the traffic light system, this is the next review point, it could be tomorrow or thursday the stop we are potentially going to see new added to the green list stop will we see france taken off the amber plus list and will the amber plus list disappear altogether? and will the red list get a little bit longer or shorter? some of the travel industry saying if you want to make it simple, why not have a system like in america where people can go pretty much anywhere they want if they are fully vaccinated a pad from a handful of high risk countries where you have a red list. some travel operators like heathrow airport saying the key is making the testing system when you come back to the uk much simpler and much cheaper and that is how you encourage people to travel safely.
well placed. what is changing is that most of us will not be able to access tests unless we are willing to pay for them. what the government is asking people to do is, if they have symptoms of a respiratory illness, a high temperature, to stay at home and avoid contact with others if we can, and then, obviously, when we are feeling better we can return back to our normal lives. i think what is important to remember, with this change, is that not everyone he was in fact it was coming forward for testing. only about half of infections were getting picked up by the daily testing system up until the daily testing system up until the turn of the year. in recent weeks, it has dropped to under a quarter. lots of people were already using their own judgment, just from tomorrow virtually all of us will have to. the organisers of the oscars say they asked will smith to leave sunday s ceremony after he slapped the comedian chris rock on stage, but he refused. disciplinary proceedings have now bee