Come clean call over Nike

Demands for the Scottish Government to “come clean” on the handling of the Nike conference coronavirus outbreak stepped up a gear yesterday after the Chief Medical Officer appeared to admit guidelines had been changed as a result of apparent failures to trace people who had interacted with infected delegates.

Nicola Sturgeon defended the public health experts, whom she said she relied on to carry out “rigorous” and “tried and tested” contact tracing, despite a new revelation that an Edinburgh kilt shop worker had fallen ill after fitting five delegates.

Explaining the process, CMO Dr Gregor Smith said someone would need to have been in face-to-face contact, within one metre for any length of time, including possible physical contact with an infected person to be traced and contacted. He also said that it should happen when someone had been within two metres of someone for 15 minutes or more. Yet Gillian Russell and her kilt shop colleagues were not traced and neither were walking tour guides who had taken the delegates around Edinburgh’s Old Town.

Asked if the face-to-face guidance had changed in the light of the Nike conference, Dr Smith said there was “now much more detail so there was a full understanding” for contact tracers as to what is meant by that.”

Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson Monica Lennon, said: “Instead of dismissing legitimate concerns Nicola Sturgeon must provide clarity on the procedures and guidance that were followed. The Scottish Government must be completely transparent, including about any mistakes that have been made.”

The Scottish Government was asked to clarify whether the contact tracing guidelines had been changed, but there had been no response by the time The Scotsman went to print.