Large queues hit Cop26 on second day of the global conference

By midday hundreds of people were still queuing outside the venue.
Cop26 delegates wait in a long queue for entrance to the summit (August Graham/PA)
PA Wire
Pa Scotland Reporters2 November 2021

Cop26 has suffered a second day of queues, with those trying to get into the venue waiting outside for more than an hour.

A large crowd had built up by 9am as people sought to enter the conference campus in Glasgow.

By midday hundreds of people were still queuing outside.

Each person attending Cop26 must show proof of a negative coronavirus test and their accreditation ID before they can pass through turnstiles into the campus.

The Cop26 conference has been hit by queues (Andrew Milligan/PA)
PA Wire

Once past the perimeter fence they must go through scanners in a security hall.

A bottleneck built up on both Monday and Tuesday outside the security hall, with delegates reportedly having missed meetings as a result.

Cop26 said it may have to limit attendance due to the large number of people seeking entrance.

It posted on Twitter: “There is currently a high level of attendance at the #COP26 venue.

“Entrance may be limited to certain categories who must be physically present at the venue.”

It asked people to use its online Cop Platform instead of attending “where possible”.

Addressing MSPs at Holyrood, Scotland’s Heath Secretary, Humza Yousaf, said: “The UK Government as the event organisers, have put measures in place to manage access to the Blue Zone. Once inside the site itself, managing queues is the UN’s responsibility.

“We are liaising with the UK Government and Glasgow City Council to encourage the UN to put in place additional measures to avoid queues such as were seen in the media reports yesterday, and to a lesser extent today.”

Earlier, Environment Secretary George Eustice apologised to Israeli government minister Karine Elharrar after she was unable to attend the opening day of the Cop26 conference due to a lack of wheelchair accessibility.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We deeply regret that incident.

“What would normally happen in this situation is that Israel would have communicated that they had that particular need for their minister.

“There was obviously something that went wrong in this instance and they weren’t aware of that and so they hadn’t made the right provisions at the particular entrance she was coming to.

“It’s deeply regrettable and we’ve apologised, and I know James Cleverly my colleague in Government, is going to be meeting her later.”

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