Teams ‘exhausted’ after testing around 250 people a day

Testers and contact tracers have been praised for their “phenomenal effort” dealing with “extremely high” volumes over the festive period.

NHS Shetland’s board meeting today (Tuesday) heard the number of daily tests averaged around 250.

The board was presented with figures showing more than 1,000 contacts were traced in December.

Public health principal Elizabeth Robinson said teams were “absolutely exhausted” and needed time off.

She said last week’s change in testing requirements had “massively reduced the amount of work” required, for which teams were “very grateful”.

Non executive director Lincoln Carroll praised the teams for their hard work.

He said they probably had some “really unfortunate comments to deal with” over Christmas, adding: “A huge thanks to all of them for the work they’ve put in because it has been a phenomenal effort.”