Speaking on BBC Good Morning Scotland, Scotland’s Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said that data shows “very clearly” that the number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 is “skewed disproportionately towards young males, those under 40”.
He said that a number of public health experts have put the rise down to greater indoor gathering’s in relation to Euro 2020.
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Hide AdHe said: “That might account for some, but also some of those fans that travelled to London in coaches for example – high risk with little social distancing, if any – also had an impact on the numbers that we’re seeing currently.
"I remember hearing Jason Leitch speak publicly about one coach which had over 20 positive cases, that was simply one coach travelling back from London.
"So I do think that some of the positive cases are associated with watching football indoors.”
Asked if he thought that in hindsight that the Government should have put stricter restrictions on travelling for the football, Mr Yousaf said that they would have been criticised either way, for “either doing too much or not doing enough”.
He continued: “Ultimately too, when it comes to other people that may have been travelling to London to see family, would it have been right to punish them for the behaviour of some football fans?
"So again, we do review these things with the fullness of time, but we do ask people to exercise caution”.
Yesterday Scotland recorded a record high number of daily coronavirus cases, with 3,285 cases reported in 24 hours.
Nicola Sturgeon issued a message on Monday evening reinforcing the message that people should exercise caution and not become complacent, adding that the good news was that the vaccine progress was providing a good level of protection.
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Hide AdShe said: “We’re not at this stage seeing a commensurate rise in the number of people in hospital or becoming seriously ill with the virus, but it is important that we are not complacent.”