Coronavirus: Contacts traced in Motherwell centre outbreak

Sitel call centre, Bellshill

Sitel said it was "urgently investigating" the outbreak with Public Health Scotland

Close contacts of eight people who have tested positive at a contact tracing call centre in North Lanarkshire have been identified and given advice.

Sitel, which carries out contact tracing for NHS England, said it was aware of a "local outbreak" at its Motherwell site.

Public Health Scotland later confirmed that eight people had so far been identified as having the virus.

It said "almost all" the close contacts identified had been traced.

'Appropriate measures implemented'

Dr David Cromie, consultant in public health medicine at NHS Lanarkshire, said: "Our public health team has been working closely with the employer Sitel and staff in the building who have been encouraged to have tests carried out.

"A number of people have now been identified as close contacts and almost all have been traced and given advice."

Dr Cromie added: "A total of eight positive cases associated with Sitel have been identified to date."

On Monday evening, a member of staff at the call centre who had tested positive for the virus recalled how staff would breach social distancing rules.

The 19-year-old woman - who asked to remain anonymous - started working there only days before lockdown. She said she used to work on the contact tracing team before being switched to another section.

Workers 'lax' about social distancing

She said workers did not always follow guidance on social distancing and she thought staff on the Test and Trace team were more "lax" about following Covid-19 regulations.

"There are social distancing measurements in place, there is a desk and a half between each desk, there are one-way systems, hand sanitiser everywhere," she said.

"They have a social distancing ambassador, he goes round making sure everyone is following the rules. So they do have a lot in place."

But she said a lack of seating in communal areas where employees spend their breaks meant staff would often sit together.

The 19-year-old, who has asthma, said: "They do put the things in place, it's just the workers aren't enforcing them.

"Down in Track and Trace they are getting one to two calls a day, so they are sitting doing nothing, they are sitting playing games with each other just to keep the time going," she said.

"The rules are more lax down there."

Sitel said it was "urgently investigating" the outbreak with Public Health Scotland.

The company said it had requested that all staff who had been working at the site undergo testing within 24 hours.

A spokeswoman for NHS Test and Trace said everyone at the site was currently working from home while a deep clean took place.

NHS Test and Trace is a service operated by the NHS in England to track and help prevent the spread of Covid-19 south of the border.

Concerns had been raised after 23 new cases of Covid-19 in Scotland were announced on Sunday, although only three of these were in the Lanarkshire health board area.

This followed 21 cases being confirmed on Saturday, with both of these figures the highest recorded since mid-June.

However, the number of new positive test results dropped back to seven on Monday, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon welcoming "a reduction compared to recent days".

She said all cases "will still be closely examined and contract tracing undertaken as appropriate".

Local pub linked to outbreak

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The Railway Tavern in Motherwell closed for a deep clean

A pub in Motherwell that said it is linked to the outbreak at the call centre said it would reopen on Tuesday as normal after being closed for a deep clean.

The Tavern said on its Facebook page that because of the precautions in place, no members of the public were at risk and as a result it was unlikely patrons would be contacted by contact tracers.

It added that its safety measures went "above and beyond government guidelines".

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