THE First Minister will provide an update on Covid-19 in Scotland this afternoon after the country saw another day of record-high cases.
More than 4000 cases were confirmed yesterday for the first time since the pandemic started. Test positivity was at 10.5% yesterday, up from 9.8% the day prior.
It comes after Nicola Sturgeon announced she plans to move the whole nation into level 0 restrictions in mid-July. The First Minister now faces calls to “press pause” on the easing of restrictions as cases rise rapidly.
Sturgeon is expected to give the update at about 12.15pm and is likely to be joined by the chief medical officer or national clinical director to take questions from journalists.
The briefing will be shown on BBC One Scotland and the Scottish Government’s own social media channels.
This morning a public health expert said rising coronavirus cases in Scotland is “very clearly” linked to fans travelling for Euro 2020 matches.
Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the spike in positive cases “coincides very much” with the incubation period of the virus after the England vs Scotland match at Wembley on Friday June 18, which finished 0-0.
READ MORE: Covid Scotland: Patients in NHS Tayside hospitals double overnight
He was asked if the Euros tournament was “acting as some kind of super-spreader with the number of fans that have been travelling around the continent”.
McKee told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “I think you in Scotland know very clearly that that is the case.
“We also have another example of Finnish fans who went to one of the Euros matches and 300 of them were infected.
“We can see very clearly in the Scottish data, because the increase coincides very much with what you would expect with the incubation period after the match but also the gender difference, because the cases, the increases seem much greater in men than in women.
“So I think when you put those two together it’s pretty clear that’s what’s been happening.”
Data from Public Health Scotland published on Wednesday showed there were almost 2000 people who attended a Euro 2020-related event while infected with the virus.
Jason Leitch said travelling fans had undoubtedly contributed to Scotland’s recent spike and that the 2000 figure was likely less than the true number.
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