An outbreak of Covid-19 at a Nike conference in Edinburgh did not spread the disease across Scotland, the country's chief medical officer has said.
Dr Gregor Smith said today that efforts to contain the virus among those who attended the gathering at a city centre hotel in February appeared to have been successful.
The outbreak in Edinburgh took place took place weeks before lockdown was implemented by the Scottish Government - but was only publicly revealed in May.
Opposition politicians claimed there had been a "cover-up" and questioned why health bosses did not alert everyone who had passed through the hotel at the time.
Speaking at the Scottish Government's daily media briefing, Dr Smith said contact tracing following the Nike conference appeared to have been “successful in controlling spread” and said there was “no evidence of any wider outbreak”.
He added scientific analysis of genetic coronavirus strains in Scotland revealed it may have come to the country before the first confirmed case was announced on March 1.
Nicola Sturgeon has previously said correct procedure was followed and patient confidentiality had been observed.
Seventy people attended the event at the Hilton Carlton Hotel on February 26 and 27.
Prior investigations found at least 25 people linked to the event contracted Covid-19, including eight in Scotland.
The incident was not made public until it was revealed in a BBC documentary in May.
It has also emerged, through local media in north-east England, that an early patient had attended the Edinburgh event. The infection was then passed to a second person at a child’s birthday party in Newcastle.
On March 5, a local newspaper reported a patient worked for Nike in Sunderland and contracted the virus after attending a conference in Edinburgh. The claim was not confirmed by Nike.
It was also reported that 20 Lloyds Banking Group staff shared hotel facilities with Nike delegates but were not traced for check-ups.
Nicola Sturgeon defending the response, saying it was right not to make the outbreak public at the time because of patient confidentiality.
Sturgeon last month that an incident management team was established with public health officials to probe the incident and control infection.
The response was international because delegates came from different countries.
