Virtual support being offered

providing support during and after labour.

Anyone who qualifies as an essential visitor must agree their visits in advance with the relevant unit and will be asked to follow safety measures including use of alcohol gel, wearing a face mask before they enter the hospital and wearing other items of PPE when required to do so during their visit.

The latest data reveals the scale of the issue of the Covid second wave in the Forth Valley, with four deaths reported yesterday of hospital patients with a positive test for Covid-19.

It also shows 75 new cases were reported yesterday in the region - taking the total number of new reported cases over the last week to 274.

Speaking to the Observer earlier this week, NHS Forth Valley’s public health chief Dr Graham Foster urged locals to stick to the rules and said most of the cases seen here were related to people breaching advice on not meeting others indoors.

He said: “There is Covid in the local community - it’s there and it’s real.

“It spreads in places where people give it the opportunity to jump from one person to another. Now is the time to be really careful again. It’s there, it’s real and we need to stop giving it bridges to spread again.

“We are asking people to try and familiarise themselves with the levels. Level three is what we have basically been doing here over the past two or three weeks.

“Physical distancing is the most important thing. A face covering does not keep you safe. It does slightly reduce the chance of not coughing the virus on to someone else but it does not make you immune.”