Coupar Angus response shows Test and Protect working, says Sturgeon

The first minister has held up the Coupar Angus coronavirus outbreak as a successful case study for Test and Protect.

In her daily briefing yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon thanked her Test and Protect teams for doing “an excellent job”, pointing to the 2 Sisters cluster.

She said the outbreak was identified quickly as being sourced in the processing plant and restrictions brought in before it spread into the community.

Ms Sturgeon claimed the system allowed measures to be targeted at factory workers and their households and that measures seemed to have been successful.

She said: “It meant that we were able to stem any spread into the community.”

The pinpointing of the 2 Sisters factory as the epicentre of the outbreak meant that Coupar Angus and Tayside wasn’t forced into greater restrictions as seen in Aberdeen and now in the greater Glasgow area.

Following the new restrictions in Glasgow City, West Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire, NHS Tayside has stated that residents from those areas cannot visit a relative in a Tayside hospital.

Claire Pearce, director of nursing and midwifery for NHS Tayside, said: “Our priority is to keep all our patients, visitors and staff safe and this means that for the next two weeks, or until further Scottish Government guidance, only essential visits will be permitted for anyone coming from these three areas.

“We understand this is difficult for patients and visitors, however we would encourage people to contact the ward for updates and to keep in touch with patients through virtual visiting.

“We would like to take this opportunity to remind visitors that they must not visit anyone in hospital if they are unwell, awaiting a Covid-19 test result, self-isolating or are currently undergoing Test and Protect.”

Visiting arrangements in Tayside continue to be one named visitor for each patient in most wards.

Hospital in-patients in non-Covid wards are able to choose one named visitor to visit them. A named visitor can be a spouse, next of kin or a friend.

All visitors are required to provide their contact details for track and trace purposes.

Claire Pearce, director of nursing and midwifery for NHS Tayside.