New outbreaks of Covid detected across Moray communities

New outbreaks of coronavirus have been detected in several areas of Moray, including Lossiemouth, Keith and Aberlour.

NHS Grampian said on Thursday that additional mobile testing units are being deployed in communities across the region in a bid to bring the cases under control.

Moray is expected to remain under level three coronavirus restrictions next Monday following a surge in cases and an increase in hospital admissions.

The area recorded 100 infections per 100,000 of the population last week.

NHS Grampian said it had witnessed early signs of improvement in tackling the situation in Elgin but warned against complacency in the days and weeks ahead.

Chris Littlejohn, deputy director of public health at NHS Grampian, said: “We’ve been so encouraged by the response from the community to testing that, at the moment, we’ve no plans to progress to door-to-door testing anywhere in Moray – if that changes we will ensure we communicate it to the community.

“The number of people coming forward for testing has increased and that it was possible the outbreak in Elgin may be starting to plateau – but it could be a further two weeks before figures show real signs of returning to normal and we cannot afford for any complacency at this point.

“One person not self-isolating when asked, one mass gathering, people gathering inside and every other breach of the guidance, has the potential to be the start point of a new cluster, that ultimately means Moray’s rates do not drop to where they are compatible with level two restrictions.”

Littlejohn said new cases in Moray are still well ahead of the rest of the country, adding that the health board was starting to see signs of outbreaks in communities outside of Elgin, including in Keith, Lossiemouth and Aberlour.

He added that the number of tests in Moray being undertaken had risen by 400% since the first warnings of rising rates and thanked the community for their efforts.

Concern is also growing over a rise in coronavirus cases in Glasgow, just days before the city is due to move under level two restrictions.

Over the last week, there have been 25 cases per 100,000 people across Scotland. Glasgow is more than double that at 58 per 100,000.

But Pollokshields, in the southside of Glasgow, has the highest transmission rate in Scotland – 575 per 100,000, which is just slightly higher than in Easterhouse, in the east end of the city.

Most of mainland Scotland will move to level two of the Scottish Government’s five-tier Covid-alert system as scheduled from next Monday.

A decision will be made soon on whether Moray should remain in level three.

Many of Scotland’s islands will move to level one due to vaccination coverage and low case numbers.