Football fans and clubbers caught up in app chaos
The chaotic launch of Scotland’s Covid passport app has continued with tests at football matches and nightclubs.
The app, launched on Thursday just 12 hours before going live, was unable to handle the demand with users trying and failing dozens of times to get their proof of vaccination.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had earlier said there would no enforcement of the new rules for another two weeks claiming it was to give venues more time to prepare.
Yesterday, football fans arriving for the Hearts-motherwell game at Tynecastle, in Edinburgh, faced long queues outside the ground while some checks were carried out – with some supporters missing the home side’s first goal.
One Hearts fan, who asked not to be named, said: “I missed all the early drama because of the queues even though I got to the stadium in plenty of time. I dread to think what it will be like at the next home match in a few weeks.”
Mike Grieve, chair of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) Scotland and director of Glasgow’s Sub Club, said only a handful of customers had been able to use the app on Friday night.
Gavin Stevenson, vice chair of NTIA Scotland, said: “The rush to get it out to political deadlines has resulted in a completely botched launch that is destroying public trust in this government and creating anger and frustration on the streets outside venues.
“Nicola Sturgeon’s disastrous plan for medical IDS must be scrapped immediately.”
The first minister has insisted the scheme is a vital tool to limit the need for further Covid restrictions in the winter months. A similar scheme in England had been proposed but then put on hold.
However, critics have questioned why the Scottish Government did not adopt the English app rather than spend £600,000 on one plagued with teething problems.
Ministers hope it will increase vaccine uptake in young people – 63% of 18 to 29-year-olds have been double vaccinated and 75% of 30 to 39-year-olds have had both doses.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde was running drop-in vaccination clinics for first and second doses all weekend to meet demand.
Virologist Dr Christine Tait-burkard, of Edinburgh University’s Roslin Institute, said: “At the moment intensive care patients with Covid are young, fit and unvaccinated and it’s mainly because they think they’re invincible.”
Another 17 Covid deaths and 2,515 new cases were recorded in Scotland yesterday, with 965 now in hospital with the virus, 66 of those in intensive care.
Meanwhile, five England footballers are refusing to be vaccinated meaning they could be left out of the nation’s World Cup squad because organisers of next year’s tournament in Qatar plan to ban all unvaccinated players.
A 15-year-old girl died from Covid-19 on the day she was due to have her vaccination.
Jorja Halliday, from Portsmouth, died at Queen Alexandra Hospital on Tuesday, four days after she received a positive PCR test result.