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Jason Leitch says ‘we’ll shift into backwards gear’ if Glasgow Euro 2020 fan zone sparks Covid surge

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National clinical director Jason Leitch.

The Euros fan zone in Glasgow will be pulled if Covid cases surge, Scotland’s national clinical director has vowed.

A total of 6,000 people will gather at Glasgow Green during the tournament, raising concerns that numbers will increase.

Questions have also been asked why fans are allowed to gather but school sports days are off limits.

Jason Leitch, Scotland’s national clinical director, insisted a “test” event of some sort needed to be held but confirmed it would be stopped if there is a surge in cases.

Aimee Harper cleans a giant ball as finishing preparations are made to the UEFA EURO 2020 Fan Zone at Glasgow Green.     Picture by Andrew Milligan/PA Wire.

He said the Scottish Government was trying to find a way of posting tests to those with tickets.

Speaking to BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, Mr Leitch said: “The decision was made that we would have a series of gateway events… and the Euros is one of those events,  including the stadium and the fan zone.

“But it’s not zero risk, the fan zone cannot be zero risk, the only way to  have zero risk would be to lock the city down and that’s not what I think the pandemic stage we are at suggests.”

Moves afoot to try to post test kits to those with tickets

Asked why organisers were not seeking evidence of Covid status through temperature checks or Covid testing proof, Mr Leith said temperature checks were “very unreliable” and testing was also not totally 100% accurate.

However, he stressed that everyone attending should take a test beforehand because they “add a layer of protection” but there are not “the panacea”.

“A negative test does not allow you to behave differently, you have to behave the same because you still could have the virus,” he said.

People should absolutely do a test, and Scotland fans will get them over the weekend. We are trying to see if we can maybe start to mail them out to people who have tickets.”

‘We will jump into reverse gear’

Mr Leitch said there will be a testing centre at the fan zone but urged people to get tested before they go by locating them from pharmacies if needs-be.

He added: “If it all goes badly there will have to be a reverse gear.”

He was asked if virus clusters connected to the fan zone might lead the event having to be stopped.

He said: “Of course, and that also goes for if we see behaviour that we don’t think is appropriate.

“We have police on site, lots of stewards, we are going to have a group of Scottish Government public health officials who will be monitoring the whole time.”