Aberdeen cluster sparks calls for folk to question whether they had ‘dropped their guard’ in fight against Covid-19
Andrew Hirst
Folk have been asked to question whether they have let their guard slip in the fight against Covid-19, following the cluster of new cases in Aberdeen.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon again urged people to be careful – particularly when visiting pubs and restaurants – in this afternoon’s (Monday) lunchtime briefing.
Ms Sturgeon’s warning followed the news that the number of Covid-19 cases associated with the Aberdeen Cluster had reached 157 – with 852 contacts now identified.
One new case was reported for Shetland over the weekend, involving a patient who tested positive in the NHS Grampian area, where the Aberdeen cluster originated.
Ms Sturgeon said she expected more cases to be reported in association with the cluster in the coming days.
“The events of the past fortnight have been a reminder of how fragile Scotland’s overall position is and that’s the same in countries across the world,” she added.
“We have seen and are still seeing thankfully low rates of transmission in the most part.
“But we’ve also seen in Aberdeen just how quickly that can change.
“It can literally change in an instant and it will change if we drop our guard.”
Ms Sturgeon reminded people to observe the guidelines and not to meet indoors with groups of more than three households at once. She stressed this guidance also applied for people meeting in pubs and restaurants.
“Each of us should be thinking about our recent behaviour and all of us asking ourselves the question, have we been a bit more relaxed about things like physical distancing when we meet up with fiends recently, are we creating more bridges that allow this virus to spread?
“Because if we are doing that and I think it’s inevitable that many of us will have dropped our guard that little bit, then now’s the time to recognise that and rectify it.
“Because the fact is we all need to be really careful right now and Aberdeen is very hard proof of that fact.
A total of 29 new cases have been reported today – 18o f which were in NHS Grampian.
Localised figures for health boards, including NHS Shetland, will be reported later this afternoon.
Heather Butler
As I understand. It was the Scottish Government that reopened the pubs, with Social Distancing to be maintained. Apparently the Pubs , appear to consider that they did follow the rules. This cluster makes me wonder ,whether this virus, is here to stay, for some considerable time. In other words run its course. Not good reading I know. Our world looks like we have a hard road in front of us all.
Robert Wishart
Ha, Nicola Sturgeon complains folk have “dropped their guard”. Just what Boris warned when he implored us to “stay alert”. Oh how the nats sneered at that when they chose to politicise the pandemic response. Didn’t even know what it meant apparently. Well she does now.