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Nicola Sturgeon was today accused of trying to rewrite history after claiming she had clearly told ticketless Tartan Army fans not to travel to London for their Euros clash against England after almost 1,300 caught Covid. 

An estimated 20,000 Scots travelled to the fixture on June 18, with a public health expert saying a subsequent rise in positive tests in Scotland was 'clearly linked' to the exodus.  

Ms Sturgeon this week said her administration had been 'very explicit in saying to fans who didn't have tickets for Wembley not to travel' - yet SNP ministers repeatedly told fans it was fine to travel if they had somewhere 'safe' to watch the game. 

Nicola Sturgeon this week said her administration had been 'very explicit in saying to fans who didn't have tickets for Wembley not to travel'

Ian Murray, the shadow Scottish Secretary, said the SNP was 'trying to rewrite history', telling the Telegraph: 'The government clearly said people could travel if they had a safe place to watch the match from, so the First Minister is simply lying when she claims she was explicit about not travelling without a ticket.

'Once again it has been mixed messages from the government, and we now have a huge rise in Covid cases as a result. Ministers need to get a grip.'

When pictures emerged of thousands of Scotland fans crammed into central London landmarks like Leicester Square and Hyde Park, Ms Sturgeon praised the 'vibrant' Tartan Army and refused to condemn supporters for breaking social distancing rules.

Scottish government ministers suggested fans could travel to London if they had 'a safe place' to go to for the game. 

Scottish culture minister Jenny Gilruth said: 'There will also be huge interest in the Scotland v England game at Wembley, but we must continue to be cautious – and I strongly urge fans to only travel if you have a ticket or a safe place to watch the match from.' 

Annie Wells, health spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: 'Rather than trying to rewrite history, Nicola Sturgeon should be up front about her lack of effective messaging.'

A Scottish government spokesman said: 'We explicitly stated that fans should not travel to London without tickets or unless they had a safe place – meaning Covid-safe – to watch the match. 

'Travel was not banned, and we are not able to stop people from travelling if they decide to do so.'

Martin McKee, professor of European public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said a spike in positive cases in Scotland 'coincides very much' with the incubation period of the virus after the match at Wembley on Friday June 18, which finished 0-0.

He was asked if the Euros tournament was 'acting as some kind of super-spreader with the number of fans that have been travelling around the continent'.

When pictures emerged of thousands of Scotland fans crammed into central London landmarks like Leicester Square and Hyde Park, Ms Sturgeon praised the 'vibrant' Tartan Army

This graph shows how Scotland's Covid cases (red line) have accelerated since the Indian variant broke out in the UK in May. It has coincided with their run in the Euros. Scotland's infections are doubling every week, but there are early signs infections are starting to fall

Prof McKee told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme on Friday: 'I think you in Scotland know very clearly that that is the case.

'We also have another example of Finnish fans who went to one of the Euros matches and 300 of them were infected.

'We can see very clearly in the Scottish data, because the increase coincides very much with what you would expect with the incubation period after the match but also the gender difference, because the cases, the increases seem much greater in men than in women.

'So I think when you put those two together it's pretty clear that's what's been happening.'

Scottish Government figures published on Thursday show there were 4,234 positive tests over the past 24 hours - meaning the country recorded more than 4,000 positive tests for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

Data from Public Health Scotland published on Wednesday showed there were almost 2,000 people who attended a Euro 2020-related event while infected with the virus.

National clinical director Jason Leitch said travelling fans had undoubtedly contributed to Scotland's recent spike and that the 2,000 figure was likely less than the true number.

This graph shows the number of cases recorded every day in Scotland (purple bars) by the date the test was taken. Experts say this is more reliable because it is not affected by fluctuations in the number of tests that can be processed daily. The graph also shows the daily average for the number of positive tests (green line). Scotland's cases are doubling every six days at the moment and are higher than the peak of the second wave

Scotland's Covid hospitalisations have remained flat, however, since cases began to rise (daily hospitalisations are the blue bars, and the average is the blue line). Just 32 people are being admitted to hospital in Scotland with the disease every day, which is almost double the amount last month but still low when compared to previous waves. For comparison, in the darkest days of January there were 195 admissions a day

Prof Leitch said: 'To keep it in perspective, there were 32,000 positives since the Euros began.

'And 2,000 of those positives, in their Test and Protect interviews, say they were at something to do with the Euros.

'So that will be an underestimate, some won't have told us that, some won't have appreciated that was important.'

Prof McKee added that the Delta variant of Covid-19 was 'much more transmissible', adding that 'we need to be really very vigilant about it.'

He added 'the vaccine is less effective against the Delta variant' than against the previously dominant Alpha variant.

Prof McKee said: 'If you look at people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine the protection goes down from about 73% to about 60% while the Pfizer vaccine goes down from about 92% to 79%.'

Scotland's deaths have also remained flat (blue bars show the number of deaths every day, and the blue line shows the average). Scotland currently averages about two deaths a day, compared to 62 at the peak of the second wave

Around two thirds of new Covid cases in 25 to 44-year-olds in Scotland are among men (blue bar) which Professor Stephen Reicher, who advises the UK and Scottish Governments, said showed the rise was a result of the football

He went on: 'Hospitalisation numbers are going up.

'The probability of being hospitalised with Covid is clearly much less than it was during earlier waves.

'But the fundamental point about any epidemic is that the cases and the consequences of the cases, hospitalisations and death, are either going down, in which case you can be happy - or they're going up, and if they're going up then you would be unhappy and you would be concerned.

'If they're going up you need to do something to try and turn that around. It's just simple mathematics.'

Figures show 275 people were in hospital on Wednesday with recently confirmed Covid-19, up 40, with 16 patients in intensive care, down three.

So far, 3,816,251 people have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and 2,722,725 have had their second in Scotland.