Aberdeen coronavirus outbreak: number of cases rises to 157
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THE number of detected cases of Covid-19 linked with the Aberdeen cluster now stands at 157, NHS Grampian says, a rise of 23 on yesterday.
The health authority has now identified 852 close contacts. It says the number of close contacts does not represent 852 unique individuals as contacts can be entered into its system multiple times, identified by detected cases as part of a household or group.
None of the individuals associated with the cluster have required hospital treatment.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said today that an additional 29 positive cases were confirmed yesterday, taking the total number of cases in Scotland to 19,027. Eighteen of these were detected in Grampian but it is not known how many of these may be associated with the city cluster.
The first minister added: "I hope that the measures that we put in place in Aberdeen last week will help to slow and then stop transmission before it becomes widespread within the community."
She stressed: "That said, we do expect the number of cases and contacts in the Aberdeen cluster to rise further in the days ahead.
"The events of the past fortnight have been a reminder of how fragile Scotland’s overall position is and that is the same in countries across the world.
"We have seen and we are still seeing, thankfully, low rates of transmission in most parts of the country.
"But we have also seen in Aberdeen how quickly that can change. It can literally change in an instant.
"And it will change, if we drop our guard."
Dr Emmanuel Okpo, NHS Grampian consultant in public health medicine, said: "A significant amount of work has gone on throughout the weekend to interview detected cases and identify their close contacts. This work continues to happen quickly.
"Our message remains one of personal responsibility. We must all keep sticking with the government guidance. Thorough hand-washing, physical distancing, and the use of face coverings where these are required, are things we can all do to limit the spread of this virus."
