COUNCIL officials in the city where Scotland’s first Covid-19 outbreak took place have been told to investigate whether the "response was adequate" following the controversial Nike conference.
More than 70 Nike employees attended the event at the Edinburgh's Hilton Carlton Hotel on February 26 and 27 where at least 25 people were infected, including eight who live in Scotland.
The Scottish Government has said contact tracing was carried out following the outbreak.
Conservative councillors in Edinburgh have pointed to "various discrepancies" with the timeline issued following the incident.
Iain Whyte, the Tory group leader on the council, said that his party wanted to “gain access to information to an important event, not just for Edinburgh but for Scotland” and “see how it relates to information given out by the Scottish Government and NHS Lothian”.
He added: “The Nike conference that took place at the end of February seems to have been ground zero for Scottish Covid infections.
“While we are told the infection was found and traced and someone was diagnosed and the council was told about that at a later stage, it doesn’t necessarily seem, certainly from media reports, that all of the people who might well have been traced, checked, to see whether they had symptoms or isolated and given proper advice, that they were appropriately followed up."
Mr Whyte said the situation “leads to a number of questions” around “what the public were told”.
He added: “Giving the public information may have helped them make appropriate choices to come forward to seek advice. It seems some of that wasn’t done.”
Council leader Adam McVey set out information about the outbreak.
He confirmed that the council was first told of the suspected Covid-19 case linked to the Nike conference by NHS Lothian on 3 March. The authority was told a “test was being carried out” and the “positive test result was shared on 6 March”, with the council’s chief executive, Andrew Kerr, “immediately informed”.
READ MORE: Kilt shop worker who fell ill following Nike conference outbreak speaks out
Mr McVey added: “What we are trying to do is very clearly set out the timeline as we have it.
“I thought it was important to show that the administration was working with officers to get that information, to get that timeline and crucially put it in the public domain as quickly as possible.”
Officers have been instructed to draw up a report that will “set out clearly the various responsibilities” in responding, including the UK and Scottish Governments and investigate “whether in light of later developments, the response was adequate”.
READ MORE: Ian Murray MP condemns ‘lack of transparency’ as further impact of Nike conference revealed
At her daily media briefing, Nicola Sturgeon defended the Scottish Government's response to the Nike conference outbreak.
She said: “I am not a contact tracer but I trust the people that do that for us.
“It is down to the judgement of the teams that work in Health Protection Scotland and the scientists who work with them.”
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