30,000 people gather for a climate summit in a pandemic. What could go wrong?

LONDON — Starting connected Sunday, satellite leaders, negotiators from 190 countries, British royals, authoritative observers, journalists, activists, celebrities — and arsenic galore arsenic 100,000 demonstrators — volition descend connected Glasgow, Scotland, to effort to prevention the satellite from runaway warming.

What could spell wrong? A lot. Even isolated from imaginable nonaccomplishment of the talks.

The COP26 clime summit, postponed past twelvemonth due to the fact that of the pandemic, is going guardant contempt a soaring spike successful covid successful Britain, wherever lawsuit levels present rival past winter’s peak.

The British and Scottish governments, serving arsenic hosts, are expecting up to 30,000 authoritative attendees — who volition beryllium gathering indoors, huddling successful tense talks, for hours and hours a day, from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 and perchance longer. It volition beryllium the largest ever acme hosted successful Britain. Organizers are scrambling to marque definite the league does not morph into a superspreader event.

The bully news: They look to person averted a obstruction workers’ onslaught that would person brought Scotland’s trains to a standstill. The atrocious news: trash collectors are inactive threatening to onslaught — reviving images of mountains of rubbish during a 13-week onslaught successful the 1970s. Not rather the earth-friendly representation Scotland is going for.

The astir startling images from this week, though, were of Glasgow underwater — deed by torrential rainfall and floods that forced roadworthy closures and postponement of a airy amusement astatine the botanic gardens. Trains from London to Glasgow were cancelled connected Thursday. Instead travelers were offered “replacement autobus service,” immoderate of the astir dreaded words successful the English language.

Flooding successful Glasgow isn’t new. The tract of the clime league was severely damaged, and 2 radical died, erstwhile the metropolis was submerged successful 1994. That was considered Glasgow’s worst flood successful the erstwhile 106 years. And, arsenic everyone attending the clime league knows excessively well, those 100-year events go much predominant arsenic the satellite warms.

But to woody with utmost upwind requires getting radical to the conference. The logistics person been formidable, particularly for delegates from countries with vaccines successful abbreviated supply.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to supply vaccines to each attendees who could not get them successful their location nations. A spokesperson from the Cabinet Office said Wednesday that doses went retired to recipients successful 70 nations, but helium declined to accidental however galore radical had received them.

“We are moving tirelessly with each our partners, including the Scottish Government and the U.N., to guarantee an inclusive, accessible and harmless acme successful Glasgow,” said a COP26 spokesman, who pursuing British protocol is not named.

The British authorities has been criticized for being dilatory and disorganized, lone getting the archetypal doses retired to delegations six weeks ago, successful an accelerated docket that would hardly let for 4 weeks betwixt rounds.

“We’ve heard from a batch of delegates who kick to america that they recovered the full process precise cumbersome. It’s not wide astatine each however galore radical took vantage of the U.K. connection for vaccines,” said Harjeet Singh, a elder advisor for Climate Action Network, successful New Delhi.

“A batch of attendees are concerned, you could say, adjacent anxious, astir covid astatine the conference,” Singh said.

Quamrul Chowdhury, a clime negotiator from Bangladesh, said, “A batch of delegations person yet to beryllium afloat vaccinated. Maybe they person gotten 1 jab, but not two. The delays were a challenge.”

Chowdhury said helium is vaccinated but inactive waiting for his visa to participate Britain and question to Glasgow.

“Maybe I volition spot you connected Sunday,” helium said. “Or Monday.”

While vaccines are powerfully advised, they aren’t really mandatory to be COP26. The Scottish authorities is requiring delegates to deterioration look masks indoors, to support societal distancing and execute regular coronavirus investigating earlier they participate the authoritative “Blue Zone,” wherever the acme volition beryllium staged. Anyone investigating affirmative volition beryllium told to quarantine.

But if location investigating kits person a mendacious antagonistic complaint of astir 15 percent, arsenic immoderate studies suggest, that could mean rather a fewer infected individuals could locomotion into the acme each day.

And the strict protocols against covid successful the Blue Zone whitethorn not widen to the ample demonstrations that are planned conscionable outside.

“There is nary nationalist wellness adept successful the satellite who would accidental determination is nary hazard successful the midst of a planetary pandemic to person tens of 1000 of radical descending” onto Glasgow, Scotland’s wellness minister, Humza Yousaf, told the BBC.

“There is perfectly a hazard of covid cases rising thereafter,” helium said, adding that it was worthy it.

“We volition bash everything we perchance tin to marque the lawsuit safe, due to the fact that we admit the clime exigency itself is the biggest nationalist wellness exigency and situation that we look globally,” Yousaf said.

Until recently, Britain required mandatory quarantines for each arrivals flying into England from “red list” countries. The authorities slashed the database from 60 countries to 7 this month, leaving lone Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.

At the aforesaid time, immoderate countries are discouraging their citizens from traveling to Britain, fixed existent coronavirus levels here. Morocco, which has had 1 of the largest COP delegations, has imposed a prohibition connected flights to and from the United Kingdom. The U.S. State Department has a “do not travel” informing successful spot for the U.K.

For those who tin get to Glasgow, galore volition beryllium shelling retired rather a lot. Hotel rates quadrupled earlier selling out. Modest one-bedroom Airbnbs were listed astatine much than $1,000 a night. Vacancies are virtually nonexistent.

“It is captious that Glasgow is acceptable for the influx of satellite leaders and others. We person heard reports of difficulties uncovering accommodation, acrophobic section businesses and reports of bid strikes perchance disrupting travel,” said lawmaker Pete Wishart, seat of the British parliament’s Scottish Affairs Committee, which traveled to Glasgow connected Monday to person a look for themselves.

Wishart said Scotland indispensable present “to the world-class modular that the circumstances demand. The eyes of the satellite volition beryllium connected Glasgow.”

Scottish leaders person been looking guardant to that attention. But strikes by the nationalist workers who cod recyclables and trash could beryllium an embarrassment.

The city’s determination to prime up trash conscionable 3 times a period person created overflowing cans and dumpsters, which is alleged to person fortified the city’s already sizable rodent population.

The Herald paper successful Scotland reported that garbage workers person deployed a giant inflatable rat successful demonstrations against enactment conditions and wage cuts. At slightest 4 rubbish collectors person reportedly been bitten.

The person of the Glasgow City Council, Susan Aitken, downplayed the rats, saying each large cities person their rodents.

Aitken told the lawmakers visiting from the British parliament that Glasgow has struggled with services due to the fact that the pandemic. But she said the metropolis workers had spent 12,000 hours to tidy up Glasgow for COP26.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon remarked, “I deliberation determination are challenges successful Glasgow and challenges successful cities crossed Scotland, the U.K., the satellite — immoderate of them related to covid, immoderate of them much cardinal than that. I’m not going to basal present and accidental they don’t beryllium successful Glasgow.”

She said the metropolis would beryllium ready.

Karla Adam contributed to this report.