A SCOTS MP is in self-isolation after attending a conference in London where one of the attendees was later diagnosed with coronavirus.
John McNally, the SNP member for Falkirk, went to an event at the UK Bus Summit at the QEII Conference Centre in London last week.
He only attended the main centre to register and was primarily in a bus outside, which was being used to host another event, but said people were coming and going between the two locations.
McNally said he had not been contacted by the organisers of the summit and only heard about the positive diagnosis from a fellow MP who had been attending.
He told The National: “I was on my way to St Andrews University to do a question and answer session and news was starting to filter through.
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“I hadn’t been feeling very well and when I phoned my office they said Sky News had phoned and then [Labour MP] Alex Sobel phoned me to ask me if I was aware what had happened.”
McNally said there were three electric buses outside the conference centre and he was invited to speak at a discussion on one of them about the future of electric buses.
“Alex Sobel (below) was there sitting beside me along with two or three new MPs … the buses were parked outside the QEII centre and there were people going back and forwards between the two all the time.”
The Falkirk MP said the whole thing came as something of a surprise.
“I’d been unwell over Christmas so could be more vulnerable to picking something up,” he said.
“My concern is that I wasn’t contacted by the organisers. I’ve had no communication from them.
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“NHS24 were very good. When I phoned them they took all the details and within a couple of hours the microbiologist phoned me back and just told me to stay in the house.”
McNally said there appeared to be a breakdown in communications, and added: “People were going back and forward on and off the buses and I’d think it would be best practice to contact everybody who was there. It’s a bit disappointing not to have any communication from the organisers.
“I only heard through an MPs’ WhatsApp group that a letter had gone out. If Alex Sobel hadn’t contacted me directly, I wouldn’t have known anything about this.”
Sobel and another Labour MP Lilian Greenwood, who was also at the conference, both said they were well, but have cancelled public engagements until February 20 as a precaution.
Conference organiser Transport Times said it had sent an email on Thursday to attendees telling them that one person confirmed to have coronavirus – which causes an ailment now known as Covid-19 – had been at the event.
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Meanwhile, Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer has praised the preparations of NHS and front-line health workers in responding to the increased pressures during the outbreak.
Dr Catherine Calderwood also thanked members of the public for following the guidelines on self-isolating and playing their part in keeping both themselves and others safe.
Two testing facilities for possible cases of novel coronavirus are now in operation in Scotland, one in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh.
“Although we have yet to see a positive case in Scotland the NHS has been preparing for the possibility ever since the beginning of this outbreak,” she said. “Our staff across the NHS in Scotland have put in extraordinary work and I want to thank all health staff for their continued hard work and dedication during this rapidly evolving situation.”
Latest figures show that in Scotland, of 252 tests carried out, all were confirmed negative, while nine patients in England have tested positive for the virus.
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