More than 500 Covid-19 cases 'linked to TRNSMT festival'

A total of 551 cases of Covid-19 have been linked to the TRNSMT music festival held in Glasgow last month, new data shows.

The multi-day event on Glasgow Green saw up to 50,000 spectators flock to Scotland’s biggest city for one of the first mass events in the country since the start of the pandemic.

Revellers were asked to bring proof of a negative lateral flow test in order to gain entry.

According to data from Public Health Scotland gained after a freedom of information request by the PA news agency, 551 people who tested positive for the virus reported having been at the festival around the time of their illness when speaking to contact tracers.

Some 1645 people were also found to have been close contacts of those who tested positive.

According to Public Health Scotland, the figures do not mean Covid-19 was contracted at the event, only that those who spoke to Test and Protect recorded having been at TRNSMT around the time of their illness.

Following the event, national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch said the festival was not responsible for a spike in cases.

In the week immediately following the festival, 30,928 cases of Covid-19 were recorded as part of the Scottish Government’s daily tally, meaning the number of confirmed cases from TRNSMT was 1.7% of the total.

However, it is not possible to narrow down when each case was reported.