Hotel not told of cases for two days

HEALTH chiefs took two days to inform a city centre hotel it had been caught up in a Covid-19 outbreak.

It emerged this week coronavirus was brought to Scotland by someone who attended a conference in Edinburgh, hosted by Nike.

Following the event, 25 people became infected with the virus, including eight living in Scotland.

On Monday, the BBC’s Disclosure programme told how 70 Nike employees were at the event in Edinburgh’s Hilton Carlton Hotel on February 26 and 27. Nicola Sturgeon has since admitted she knew about the outbreak

Deputy Scottish Political Editor but did not disclose details, citing ‘patient confidentiality’ and denying claims of a ‘cover-up’.

However, she is facing growing calls to further explain the failure to tell the public or those who may have come into contact with delegates.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘At a number of crucial stages, the Scottish response to the Covid-19 outbreak appears to have been very slow and unresponsive. Given the extremely infectious nature of this

virus, waiting two days before informing the hotel of a possible outbreak will have exposed a number of other people to the contagion.

‘This simply exposes the very basic failure of test, trace and isolate.’

According to officials, bosses at the Hilton Carlton were only informed of a ‘possible’ outbreak at the hotel on March 4, two days after Health Protection Scotland was told a conference delegate tested positive for Covid-19 after returning home.

On March 3 it was confirmed that someone living in Scotland who also attended the event had tested positive. But Hilton Hotels have said they were only notified of a ‘presumptive’ case the next day, which led to ‘deep cleaning’ of the premises.

Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray has accused Miss Sturgeon of a cover-up and has written to her demanding more answers.

He wrote: ‘You said you are satisfied all necessary steps were taken. I don’t doubt this, but how many of the conference attendees were in touch with the wider public?

‘How many used local transport, shops, restaurants, bars, taxis, the airport, trains and other local services?’