COVID safety measures for the Euros fan zone on Glasgow Green are “under consideration”, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The First Minister gave the update with just more than a week before the zone is due to open on June 11 and see up to 6000 football fans soaking up a “festival atmosphere” in the park.
But organisers Glasgow Life have said there was no requirement for ticket holders to show a negative coronavirus result to gain access.
During First Minister’s Questions yesterday, Scottish Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy asked whether attendees will “require testing for Covid-19 ahead of entry, given conflicting information provided by the Scottish Government and the organisers Glasgow Life”.
The First Minister said: “I will write to Pam Duncan-Glancy and make this available to the whole chamber of the arrangements that are in place.
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“These arrangements are still under consideration, to make sure that any fan zone proceeds safely with all the correct mitigations in place.”
She said people across Scotland can order lateral flow tests for free online.
Earlier this week, a spokeswoman for Glasgow Life said: “It is not a requirement for ticket holders to show a negative result from a Covid-19 test to gain access to the fan zone or the stadium on match days.
“However in the interest of public health, we would encourage all fans to take a test prior to attending, to help stop the spread of the virus as the country moves out of lockdown.
“Event plans will be continually assessed by partners against epidemiological conditions and Covid measures will continue to be monitored in the run-up to and throughout the tournament to ensure they remain appropriate.”
Speaking after FMQs, Duncan-Glancy said: “I asked the First Minister today to clarify the situation with testing for the Euro 2020 Fanzone because there were two different messages on this earlier this week.
“On Monday, the Health Secretary said that the government would ‘make sure there’s appropriate testing’. But the organisers have made clear that testing is not mandatory for ticket holders. And the First Minister today urged people to voluntarily take tests.
“It is really important that people have clear and direct information so that they know what to do to protect themselves and each other. It is still not clear what the situation is.
“People in Glasgow need some reassurance that the large gatherings set to go ahead will do so with all precautions in place to keep them safe.”
Meanwhile, the owners of pubs and restaurants in the city fear the facility could lead Glasgow back into level 3 restrictions or into lockdown if it causes a spike in infections.
Hospitality venues in Glasgow have been under level 3 restrictions but move to level 2 from tomorrow, allowing them to open for longer and serve alcohol indoors.
David Maguire, who owns a number of venues including 1051 GWR, said the zone was an “enormous risk”.
“If you were determined to get the Covid wave to go back up again this is exactly the type of event you would run,” he told The Times. “We believe this event is incapable of being managed to the standards it is required to be managed to.”
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