No new Covid cases despite fears for an outbreak

Shetland has gone another day with no new Covid cases, despite concerns last week over a cluster in Whalsay.

The Scottish government’s official figures for today (Monday) show the isles’ tally remains at 240, unchanged since Saturday.

Two new cases had been reported on Thursday, followed by one on Friday and another on Saturday.

NHS Shetland said more cases could still be identified as it can take 10-14 days from exposure before someone become infectious.

Interim director of public health, Susan Laidlaw, thanked the community for their support in helping to prevent the spread of the virus.

She said people were continuing to come forward with concerns they may have been exposed to the virus recently.

If followed a plea from NHS Shetland chief executive Michael Dickson on Friday for folk to work with the health board amid concerns some had not been fully transparent about the extent of their contacts.

Dr Laidlaw reminded those who had been asked to isolate that they must do so for the full ten days, or as advised by the contact tracing team, even if they have had a negative test.

“There is still a chance that you can become infectious, with or without symptoms, during that time,” Dr Laidlaw said.

“It is really important that you abide by the public health guidance and complete your isolation to prevent the virus spreading further.”

“Although we are in level zero, we still do have to follow ‘Facts’ and all the national guidance for this level including, for example, the number of people allowed in different settings and at events.

“Public health will still contact trace and test and take all the other actions that are required to manage any further cases and clusters to protect the most vulnerable and to prevent a large outbreak in our community.”

Dr Laidlaw said the vaccination rollout continued to progress well but, as before, people appeared to be missing calls from the vaccination team because they had not answered the phone.

“We really do understand that people are reluctant to answer a call from an unknown number but, if you know you are due your second vaccination, or if you have contacted us about having your first vaccination, please do take the call so we can schedule you in,” she said.

“We are still offering first vaccinations for people who have not yet had one, but you do need to make yourself known as soon as possible so that an appointment can be arranged for you.

“And it will still be eight weeks before you can have the second one.

“The evidence shows that the vaccination is preventing serious illness, hospital admission and deaths and may be having an effect on transmission on a population level.

“But we now know that two doses are needed to have good protection against the new Delta variant in particular. For our community’s sake it is very important that as many people as possible have two doses of the vaccination so that we can all be protected and keep moving on towards normality again.”

Any adult living in Shetland who has not had their first vaccination can leave a message at 01595 743319 and they will be called back with an appointment.

Anyone who has not yet had their vaccination, should read the information on NHS Inform.