Covid: Glasgow Euro 2020 fan zone linked to over 100 cases

More than 100 cases of Covid-19 have been linked to the Euro 2020 fan zone in Glasgow, it has been revealed.

In response to a freedom of information request by the PA news agency, Public Health Scotland (PHS) said 103 cases were linked to the Glasgow Green event.

The Scottish Government gave the go-ahead to the fan area, which could hold up to 6,000 people per day, and was open throughout the football tournament which saw the return of the Scotland men’s team to a major competition for the first time in 23 years.

Mitigations were in place, with tables spaced out in the viewing area, and tests were mailed to thousands of ticket holders ahead of time.

But concern still raged over whether the zone would result in a spike in coronavirus cases, however, these figures show just 5% of the 2,000 football related cases were linked to the fan zone.

The figure is still a substantial increase since June 30, when a PHS report said 55 cases were linked to the facility.

Almost two weeks remained of the tournament when the PHS report was released, but attendances had dropped as a result of Scotland being eliminated in the group stages, so it remains unclear what caused the increase in the final stages of the tournament.

The report found that almost two thirds (1,294) of the cases linked to Euro 2020 activity were due to travel between Scotland and London to watch Scotland play England.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “Thousands of people took the opportunity to visit the Euro 2020 fan zone, which was created to provide a highly regulated outdoor space with robust mitigations in place to minimise transmission.

“Compliance with mitigations was generally very good and 103 cases represents a small proportion of those who attended.

“Data from Public Health Scotland and NHS contact tracing shows no evidence of an outbreak at the fan zone, and that the increase in case numbers during the tournament reflects an increase in prevalence of the virus in broader society.”