Coronavirus: Lloyds and Nike staff shared facilities at Edinburgh hotel before COVID-19 outbreak

Twenty Lloyds Banking Group employees shared facilities with Nike staff at an event in Edinburgh which had an outbreak of COVID-19, Sky News has learned.

Lloyds wasn't informed by the Scottish Government of the outbreak among Nike delegates and only learned of it through media reports.

Managers are now contacting the 20 members of staff, informing them that they knew nothing of the outbreak.

Lloyds Banking Group has closed four of its buildings in Edinburgh in recent weeks for deep cleaning following cases of COVID-19.

It says while it's not able to establish a link to the Nike event, it's not able to discount it.

Ian Murray, the Labour MP for Edinburgh South, says the latest development compounds what he calls a "national scandal."

It's understood the Lloyds bank staff shared common areas of Edinburgh's Hilton Carlton Hotel during a training event on 26 February.

The Nike conference took place on the 26 and 27 February, hosting 70 international delegates. On 2 March, Health Protection Scotland was told that one of the delegates had tested positive for COVID-19.

The Scottish government was made aware of two Scottish cases connected to the event a day later. Eventually, 25 cases were linked to the Nike conference, eight in Scotland.

The Scottish government said nothing publicly about the outbreak and it only emerged in media reports last week.

When news was made public, members of staff at a business next to the Nike store in Glasgow's Buchanan Street reported COVID-type symptoms.

A female kilt-fitter in Edinburgh also fell ill after fitting kilts for 10 delegates in her shop.

She wishes to remain anonymous, but a source close to her told Sky News: "Obviously this involves close proximity measuring and contact.

"She became unwell shortly after and had to take two days off work, due to flu-like symptoms. Thankfully, she made a quick recovery.

"My question is, which I would like you to put to the Scottish government, why was she, and potentially many others around the city, not informed of these cases?

"Why was there no tracing done on the contact that these delegates had with people in the city so that they could also be tested and advised on treatment or isolation?

"It is my belief that many people outside of the conference were put at risk unawares and that the Scottish goverment should have taken measures to ensure the safety of workers and the public that these delegates had contact with," she added.

Sky News asked Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister, if she had failed in her duty of care to those members of the public who had developed symptoms without knowledge of any Nike connection.

She said: "I won't rehearse the issues around patient confidentiality, the reasons why that was so important.

"There were a very small number of people from Scotland at that event and all of these cases were reported through our figures in the normal way, and I think it's important to stress that.

"But had we said 'Patient X in Y health board got it at a particular event', because they may have been the only person in that health board to be at the event, we would have effectively been identifying them.

"So that's why, patient confidentiality, it is an important consideration in all of these things. The second thing is contact tracing was done rigorously in this situation.

"An incident management team was set up to make sure the protection of public health was absolutely at the centre of how this was managed and contacts were identified and traced.

"It is for the judgement, we've talked here before about the definitions of a contact, and it is for those contact tracers who are doing that to ensure that, from the information they are given, they appropriately follow up contacts.

"Now that process was gone through in that case, as it would be in any other similar situation."

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Earlier on Monday, Ms Sturgeon announced lockdown measures could be eased in Scotland "within days" of 28 May.

Lloyds Banking Group is contacting the 20 staff present at the Edinburgh Hilton training event to invite them to report any concerns to managers.

One employee told Sky News that lunch and refreshment facilities were shared between the different events at the hotel.

The Lloyds staff were in close contact with Nike delegates at lunch and on coffee breaks at which they used touch screen coffee machines.

Ian Murray, the Labour MP for Edinburgh South, told Sky News: "The Scottish government has hidden behind patient confidentiality when their own legislation says that shouldn't happen on a public health issue.

"Their own Health Secretary said they did all they could to track and trace those that were in contact with delegates.

"However, what is clear is that more and more people are coming forward who haven't been contacted. It demonstrates the reason why you should tell the public what's going on, rather than keeping it from them."

In Scotland, there were two further deaths linked to coronavirus reported on Monday, taking its total to 2,105.