Nicola Sturgeon hints future COVID clusters to be made public after Nike row

Nicola Sturgeon has suggested that future COVID-19 clusters will be “made public” after fresh criticism of the Scottish Government's handling of the Nike conference outbreak in Edinburgh.

Tory leader Jackson Carlaw accused Ms Sturgeon of keeping the outbreak, which involved the first cases in Scotland, a "public secret" as they clashed during First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood today.

He accused the Scottish Government of a series of "failures" in its handling of pandemic in Scotland as the political consensus over the public health response broken down.

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Ms Sturgeon has said that the Government did not go public about cases at the Nike conference incase it breached confidentiality.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during First Minister's Questions held at the Scottish ParliamentFirst Minister Nicola Sturgeon during First Minister's Questions held at the Scottish Parliament
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during First Minister's Questions held at the Scottish Parliament

But Mr Carlaw said today: "There is a balance between patient confidentiality and public health.

"For me, and I think for most people, for Coronavirus, that balance must be tipped clearly in favour of protecting the public's health.

"I think the public and most who have had the virus will take the view that they do have a right to know so we can all work together to beat this virus."

Many individuals and businesses who had dealings with Nike delegates at the February conference have since come forward to say they were not contacted by "contact tracers" to advise them of the risk.

Mr Carlaw added: "This was a mistake. Surely the job over the coming weeks will be made much easier if the Government is completely transparent about when and where outbreaks occur.

"In fact it's essential that they do. Would the First Minister now give that commitment."

Ms Sturgeon responded: "I think I did give that commitment that that consideration would be at the heart of the approach to test, trace and isolate."

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The First Minister said that as the pandemic develops and the number of people having been infected increases, there is less risk that going public with an outbreak identifies any individual and breaches patient confidentiality.

"That is why as go into test, trace and isolate yes of course we look at the circumstances of where there is a cluster of cases that is made public. That is exactly the work that is rightly and properly being considered as part of the development of test, trace and isolate."

But Ms Sturgeon hit back at efforts to politicise" the row through language like "cover-up"

She said: "Apart from asking why anyone would want to cover this up, I would say that if that's the accusation it doesn't just impugn my integrity, opposition politicians are entitled to do that.

"But I actually think it starts to impugn the integrity of the experts who manage this outbreak, including Public Health England who were part of the incident management team."

She added: Let's talk about these things seriously, let's look at where there are legitimate issues and questions - but let's not engage in ridiculous language of secrecy or cover-up."

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