Medic chief in plea to supporters

RANGERS fans have been urged to come clean if they were involved in lockdown-breaching title celebrations after a surge in corona cases in the Glasgow area.

Thousands of Rangers fans staged victory parties on March 7 to celebrate their team’s first title win in a decade despite Scotland still being under a strict lockdown.

Scenes in Glasgow’s George Square and other smaller gatherings prompted a furious response from Nicola Sturgeon – who warned that this Sunday’s Old Firm match was under threat.

Now fans have been told they must be honest if asked by contact tracers if they attended title parties as the number of Covid cases in Glasgow rises.

The city has the highest weekly rate of new coronavirus cases in Scotland amid an uptick of positive tests mainly in the central belt.

The increase is particularly apparent among people aged between 25 and 44, chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith said. Yesterday, he thanked the “small by chris Mccall number” of supporters who had admitted they were part of the large gatherings in George Square or outside Ibrox Stadium on March 7 after developing Covid symptoms.

But he added: “If you are asked to isolate, please do isolate. And please give us as much honesty in your answers (to contract tracers) as you can, so we can identify those you have been in contact with, so we can ask them to isolate as well.”

Discussing the increase in cases, Dr Smith said: “In the areas of Scotland, it tends to be the central belt. It’s Ayrshire and Arran, it’s Lanarkshire, it’s particularly Glasgow just now.”

Across Scotland, there were 4074 coronavirus cases in the past seven days, compared with 3601 for the previous seven-day period. Before this, cases had generally been declining since January.

The First Minister said it was a warning that despite lockdown easing, the virus was still out there.

She said: “Taking it all together, the case