First coronavirus case since April recorded

A new Covid case was confirmed in Shetland today – the first since April.

NHS Shetland said the case was linked to travel and other cases on the UK mainland.

Interim public health director Susan Laidlaw stressed that, even though the isles are due to move to level zero restrictions on Saturday, Shetland was still at risk of an outbreak.

A “rigorous” process of identifying and isolating contacts was now underway, she said.

That follows the news that several of Whalsay’s football players are in self-isolation.

Dr Laidlaw said that the new case showed that even though the vaccination programme had seen great uptake rates, Covid had “not gone away” and folk were “still at risk”.

“But with rigorous contact tracing, increased testing and isolation, combined with our high vaccination uptake, we are in a good position to contain the virus and limit spread within the community.”