Covid in Scotland: 'No evidence' to link Omicron cases with COP26
- Published
Thousands of delegates from around the world travelled to Glasgow for the conference
The COP26 conference in Glasgow did not cause Covid rates in Scotland to rise, a report has found.
Public Health Scotland (PHS) also said there was "no evidence" of any connection between Omicron cases and the two-week long climate summit.
Thousands of delegates attended the conference which ran from 31 October to 12 November.
Although cases in Scotland began to rise during that time, PHS said the increase was driven by young children, external.
During the summit, the case rate in Glasgow was the lowest among mainland health boards.
PHS said it had used data from routine and enhanced Covid monitoring, including designated test kits, during the climate summit.
"Although the seven-day incidence rate of infection in Scotland began to increase during the COP26 summit, from 330 cases per 100,000 on 1 November to 389 cases per 100,000 on 13 November, this increase was primarily driven by rising cases among children between 5 and 11 years old," the report said.
"With infections falling in the two weeks following the end of the summit, it is likely that COP26 has had little impact on Covid-19 epidemiology in Scotland."
In total, there were 193 Covid infections detected through testing on conference test kits.
Summit delegates accounted for 62 of the infections, with 35 in staff. The remaining infections were classed as "other" or had an unknown role at the conference.
PHS estimates that about two in every 1,000 people officially affiliated with COP26 tested positive for the virus using lateral flow or PCR tests.
This compares with an estimated rate of 11 to 12 infections in every 1,000 people among the general population during the conference.
The first case of the Omicron variant was detected in Scotland on 30 November.
There are now 186 confirmed cases, although the actual number is likely to be much higher than this figure.
