Some elderly patients in hospital with Covid, NHS says

Covid-19

NHS Shetland has said it has “a small number” of older, more vulnerable patients currently in hospital with Covid.

The health board said there were still high levels of Covid in the community, with a “high number” of positive lateral flow tests being recorded recently.

Interim public health director Susan Laidlaw said that most of those testing positive were vaccinated adults with very mild symptoms.

Around a third are children with cold symptoms, she added.

“However, with this currently high number of cases in our community, it is not unexpected that, sadly, we have seen a small number of older, more vulnerable people with Covid needing to be admitted to hospital,” Dr Laidlaw said.

“So, we all still need to take sensible precautions to try and protect the most vulnerable people in Shetland.”

The NHS said that not everyone will be called now if they are in contact with a positive person, with some contacted by text instead.