Over 500 COVID cases thought to be linked to TRNSMT festival

New data from verbal accounts given to NHS contact tracers show that more than 500 cases of COVID can be linked to TRNSMT festival in Glasgow.

Public Health Scotland said 551 people who tested positive reported to contact tracers as being at the festival around the time they tested positive for the virus.

1,645 people were also found to have been close contacts of those who tested positive.

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These figures were published after a freedom of information request was submitted by PA.

Public Health Scotland has clarified that this does not necessarily mean that these cases were contracted at the festival. The 551 who tested positive had reported being at the festival at around the time of having COVID.

Roughly 50,000 people had attended the festival in Scotland in September. This year the festival saw performances from the likes of The Chemical Brothers, AJ Tracey, Little Simz and Becky Hill.

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To enter the festival, attendees had to show proof of a negative lateral flow test. TRNSMT was one of the first large scale events to take place in Scotland since March 2020.

At the time of TRNSMT about one in 60 people in Scotland had COVID.

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Public health expert Prof Linda Bauld said that while it was likely that some of these people were infected at TRNSMT, it was not a "super-spreader" event.

"It's really important to recognise that in the weeks following the festival, we actually saw a decline in cases in Scotland and we certainly didn't see a surge related to that festival.

"But clearly it's not without risk and that may be reflected in these numbers."

[Via: BBC News]

Aneesa Ahmed is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter