Covid: More than 100 cases linked to Glasgow's Euro fan zone - BBC News
Public Health Scotland said 103 positive cases could be traced to the month-long event at Glasgow Green
Glasgow's Euro 2020 fan zone has been linked to more than 100 cases of Covid-19.

The Uefa football festival took place at Glasgow Green for the duration of the tournament in June and July.

In response to a freedom of information (FOI) request, Public Health Scotland (PHS) has revealed 103 cases were traced back to the event.

The Scottish government said that this number represented a "very small proportion" of those who attended.

In the days before the tournament kicked off, it gave the go-ahead to the fan area which could hold up to 6,000 people per day.

Scotland fans gathered to watch all matches, including 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.

tThere was still concern over whether the zone would result in a spike in coronavirus cases.

However, official figures released after the FOI request by the PA news agency show just 5% of the 2,000 football-related cases were linked to the fan zone.

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

Almost two weeks remained of the tournament when the 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.

Spaced-out tables and encouragement to take part in pre-event testing were in place to mitigate risks at the fan zone in Glasgow

The report found that almost two thirds (1,294) of the cases linked to Euro 2020 activity occurred 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."