Latest Covid cases linked to five different travel sources

Yesterday (Sunday) the health board urged everybody who wanted to visit the isles to take at least two lateral flow tests (LFT) before travelling north in a bid to reduce the strain on limited local resources.

Interim director of public health Dr Susan Laidlaw said all seven new cases confirmed over the past three days, including the three confirmed today, were travel related.

With three of these being linked, Covid infections have come to light at five different travel events, she said.

Dr Laidlaw added: “They were identified through people having symptoms or doing asymptomatic LFTs or doing an asymptomatic PCR because they were identified as a contact of another case on the UK mainland.”

She said a number of people in the isles were currently self-isolating but was unable to give a figure due to the constantly changing picture.

“For each of the recent travel related cases there have generally been a relatively small number of contacts (averaging about six), which may include some on mainland Scotland and some in Shetland,” she said.

“We may also have people in Shetland who are self-isolating because they are a contact of a case south, but we do not necessarily know about them if they have been contacted traced by another CT team or identified through the proximity app.

“We usually only know about them if they request a PCR test.”

On Sunday, NHS Shetland said that to reduce the risk of unknowingly bringing Covid to the Northern Isles, people are requested to take the following precautions before they travel:

• Complete a lateral flow device (LFD) test three days before you travel;
• Repeat this again on the day of travel;
• Delay your trip and book a PCR test if your LFD test is positive – even if you have no symptoms;
• Delay your trip, self-isolate and book a PCR test if you have Covid symptoms (new continuous cough or high temperature or loss/ change in sense of taste or smell).