Covid Scotland: No Covid spike from COP26 summit, Scottish Government data shows

There has been “no significant spike” resulting from the COP26 climate change summit, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.

Ms Sturgeon said information published earlier on Tuesday by Public Health Scotland suggests that of the people officially affiliated with COP26, about four in every 1,000 tested positive for Covid through routine lateral flow testing.

This contrasts to survey data for the Scottish population as a whole, which suggests that last week 12 people in every 1,000 had Covid.

The 20,000 delegates from around the world had to take daily lateral flow tests before entering the conference, while they were all asked to be double vaccinated, with vaccinations supplied to people from countries where they were not readily available.

Delegates listen during the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.

Ms Sturgeon said: “I can confirm that there is no sign so far of any significant spike in cases associated with COP.

"Rigorous measures were put in place to minimise the risks of Covid transmission. For example, anyone entering the main summit site – the Blue Zone – had to provide evidence of a negative lateral flow test result.”

Ms Sturgeon also said very few people attending fringe events at COP26 – rather than the main conference – had subsequently tested positive.

She added: “In total, since October 15, 291 people with Covid across Scotland reported attending a COP-related event. That including satellite meetings and demonstrations, as well as the summit itself.

"That represents less than half of 1 per cent of all those who tested positive for Covid over the last month and reported through Test and Protect.”

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