Cornwall minister defends major events like G7 and Euros during holiday lockdown
Environment Secretary George Eustice insists the summit was Covid-19 secure, despite a recent spike in local cases
A government minister has insisted that the recent spike in coronavirus cases in Cornwall is not linked to the G7.
Environment Secretary George Eustice says the summit WAS Covid secure, using measures like regular testing.
That is despite recent rises in some areas of the Duchy, including parts of St Ives, Newquay and Falmouth.
The Camborne and Redruth MP believes that could be down to a combination of restrictions easing and the age groups who have not been vaccinated.
"There have been some increases, as there are right around the country because obviously we've got a large proportion of the population, the younger population, are only now being vaccinated.
"So over the last four weeks, as we've been in a situation that people have been moving around while some of them haven't been vaccinated".
During an interview with Sky News, Mr Eustice answered questions about holding big events like the G7 while quarantine restrictions for holidays abroad remain in place.
He said: "That was bringing a relatively small number of people together for an important meeting to discuss global challenges, including the pandemic.
"What we put in place there were systems where you had very intensive lateral flow testing to make sure that people attending that event did not get the virus; it was monitored very closely".
He was also challenged about the decision to allow 60,000 fans to be at Wembley for the Euro 2020 finals.
"We want to be able to support this tournament to go ahead and that's why, in all of these areas, we will sometimes take different approaches using testing, for instance, regular testing and lateral flow testing as an alternative in some instances.
"And I think we do sometimes need to do this to try to facilitate the return to normality and life as normal".
Environment Secretary, George Eustice