PLANS have been put in place to hold a scaled-back COP26 – due to take place in Scotland this year – amid the ongoing coronoavirus pandemic, The National can reveal.

The annual United Nations climate change talks, due to be hosted by the UK, were originally due to be held in Glasgow last November. The event was postponed until November this year amid hopes that in 12 months the health crisis would be resolved.

However, with travel bans in place and the pandemic persisting – with new more infectious strains of the virus emerging in England, South Africa and Brazil – fall-back plans are now being drawn up to limit the numbers of people attending and consider the possibility of some sessions being held virtually.

Thousands of people were originally poised to descend on Glasgow from across the world for the talks.

But there are concerns large numbers of international visitors – including politicians, diplomats officials, climate change activists and journalists crowding into Scotland’s largest city from overseas could cause a new Covid outbreak next winter – the busiest time for the NHS even outwith the pandemic.

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Senior councillors in Glasgow were given a briefing earlier this week and were told that while it was currently the intention for the talks to take place in the format as first planned, contingency proposals were being drawn up to limit the numbers of people attending and to hold some sessions remotely.

Councillor Malcolm Cunning, Labour group leader on Glasgow City Council, told The National: “Councillors from all groups were being briefed on Monday about major events taking place this year by the police and form what the police were saying there clearly is an understanding that COP26 may or may not go ahead in quite the way that we are planning for.

“Everyone is planning, quite rightly, for the full event to go ahead but at any stage we may have to step back from it and do it in a different way and that clearly is, from what the police are saying is in their consideration and planning and I have no doubt they are doing that in consultation with the UK Government.”

Asked about what type of alternative or scaled-back changes were under consideration, Cunning said: “The police were saying none of us know today what the situation is going to be in six months time. Planning is being done quite properly that the event will go ahead as planned, but there is a recognition that at any stage there may have to be changes. These as I understood it are under active consideration and there was mention of a situation were you have fewer attendees.”

Asked whether that would mean some sessions being held remotely, he said he believed that was the case.

The alternative plans are now under way as Professor Jason Leitch, the national clinical director, repeated warnings to Scots about planning a holiday abroad this summer.

Speaking at the Scottish Government’s daily briefing yesterday he said he didn’t know what the situation would be with the global pandemic over the summer or for the six months into autumn and Christmas this year.

Referring to a briefing he had previously given civil servants, he said: “I said that this year is very, very unpredictable and that is absolutely true.

“Vaccination optimism is one element but there is also global vaccination. So will you be able to travel to a country that has struggled with vaccination roll-out? We simply do not know the answer to that.

“And the second thing I was asked was ‘how we will get out of this?’ And I said it would be slow, gradual and we would have to think very carefully in our advice to ministers about what could open when.”

Scottish Greens councillor Kim Long added: “The COP26 conference will be a huge opportunity for Glasgow and Scotland to be at the centre of renewed efforts to tackle the climate emergency, but it must happen in a way that is safe. It is right police and others should look at contingencies but we hope that by November we will be able to welcome the world to Glasgow.”

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Assistant chief constable Bernard Higgins of Police Scotland said: “We have been planning for this event for over a year and the basis of our assumptions is that the summit will be held in person and this continues to be the case.

“We will continue to work with UK Government and other key delivery partners to ensure the policing operation is appropriate and proportionate.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said COP26 is an event of global importance aiming to accelerate action on the climate emergency.

“Our priority is to ensure a safe and secure COP26 ... and we are working with the UK Government and our partners in Glasgow to achieve this.

“Covid-19 continues to be closely monitored by all relevant agencies and, while it is too early to predict the course of the pandemic in November, the Scottish Government will be closely involved in decisions around the planning for the event.”

A UK Government spokeswoman added: “We are working on the basis of COP26 being held in person, though we will obviously closely monitor the covid situation in the run-up to the event.

"The COP26 team is working hard on exploring all the options around holding a successful, inclusive summit which is held safely.”