Indoor care home visits halted in Tayside as 2 Sisters outbreak passes 100
There are now 110 confirmed cases of covid-19 at the Coupar Angus factory - 96 are employees
Indoor care home visits, which are allowed to start up again today across Scotland, have been suspended in Tayside as the outbreak at a chicken factory in Coupar Angus rises to 110 cases.
The local health board made the decision last night as officials look to curb the spread of the virus at the 2 Sisters plant in Coupar Angus.
14 of the confirmed cases are linked to the wider community.
All staff and anyone they live with are being told to isolate for 14 days, with the only exception being to get tested.
Dr Emma Fletcher, Associate Director of Public Health for NHS Tayside, said: “Over the last week in Tayside as a whole, more than 2500 tests have been taken at the testing sites across the area, including the two dedicated facilities in Coupar Angus and Dundee brought in specifically to support testing of 2 Sisters factory workers.
"Hundreds of workers have attended for testing and given the volume of testing which has now been completed, we expect positive cases to continue to rise in the coming days as tests are processed and we receive the results.
“All workers and their household contacts, including children, should be self-isolating until 31 August and that is even if they have a negative result.
“Tayside remains in a heightened state of vigilance and the IMT today considered indoor visiting in care homes as part of its business, as this was due to be reintroduced at a number of care homes across the area from tomorrow.
"The NHS Tayside Health Protection Team and colleagues in the three Health and Social Care Partnerships in Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross, together with other partner agencies, determined that the reintroduction of indoor visiting should not go ahead in Tayside at this time due to the ongoing situation at the factory and a number of other clusters and positive cases."
It comes as the outbreak connected to Dundee's Kingspark School now stands at 22.
The majority of them are adults. Two are pupils at the additional needs facility and a further three are community contacts.
All staff and pupils are currently isolating for two weeks, with the school closed for that time.
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