Coronavirus: Thirteen people now positive in Inverclyde cluster
- Published
The pharmacy in John Wood Street is one of two businesses linked to the cluster
A further two people have tested positive for Covid-19 as part of a cluster of cases in the Inverclyde area.
The total number of positive cases involved is now 13, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Friday.
Amazon has confirmed that a member of staff, based at a warehouse in Gourock, is in quarantine. An M&D Green Pharmacy in Port Glasgow is also linked.
Some individuals visited a number of businesses in the Greater Glasgow area.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) said they may have been infectious at the time.
The businesses included The Botany bar and restaurant in Glasgow, and Sweeney's Cruises in West Dunbartonshire, both on Sunday.
Individuals also visited The Queen of the Loch by Marston's Inn in Balloch and Lomond Woods Holiday Park on the weekend of 24 July.
All the businesses linked to the outbreak are continuing to operate, and the health board has previously said the cases were only experiencing mild symptoms.
Tracing close contacts
In a statement on Facebook, Sweeney's Cruises said they were visited by council health officials and had been "given the green light to carry on with our daily cruises".
Queen Of The Loch and Marston's Inn said on Facebook that it had "enhanced cleaning procedures in place", had undergone a "full deep clean" and was co-operating with the local authority.
None of the cases linked to the pharmacy are currently working there and customers have been told it is safe to keep using its facilities.
Dr Daniel Carter, consultant in public health medicine and chairman of the incident management team dealing with the cluster, said: "All those who have tested positive for Covid-19 are self-isolating and we are working with a number of businesses including a local pharmacy to trace any close contacts.
"We would like to take this opportunity to remind local residents of the importance of continuing with the general measures to minimise the risk of Covid-19 to themselves and to others."
Ms Sturgeon has previously thanked the businesses concerned for "acting swiftly, and for fully cooperating with the guidance and procedures to contain this cluster".
'Soul-destroying'
Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe said news of the local cluster was "soul-destroying" in an area which has already been one of the worst-hit by coronavirus in Scotland.
"There has been a lot of anxiety, rightly, in the community over the last few months," he said.
"We saw some light at the end of the tunnel with the number of deaths reducing - in the previous three weeks we didn't have any - and now this has come back.
"But there is a degree of reassurance that the effective systems are in place and hopefully we can contain the virus."
Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe said he was hopeful the virus could be contained
Mr McCabe also said he hoped track and trace measures could help avoid a local lockdown.
He said: "Obviously, if the outbreak can't be contained, there are potential consequences.
"We have seen in Dumfries and Galloway and parts of England that major outbreaks do lead potentially to local lockdowns and I hope we can avoid that situation."
Scotland's national clinical director, Prof Jason Leitch, told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme on Thursday that the pharmacy in Port Glasgow was still open but that locals should not be concerned about using services.
He said: "We've been in touch with the pharmacy and we're very, very comfortable with how the pharmacy has behaved both up to this point and yesterday.
"People should not be scared to use pharmacies in the area."
He added that the option of a local lockdown to control the Inverclyde cluster was being kept "in reserve" and would be used if necessary.
"If we thought this virus had gone into community transmission mode, like we saw in early and late March, then we would of course do something more dramatic," he said.
Control measures
M&D Green managing director Martin Green said "some staff" at its John Wood Street branch had tested positive for Covid-19.
He said: "We have been working with Health Protection Scotland and environmental health officers, who are satisfied with the infection control measures we have in place and have immediately implemented the minor additional actions recommended."
Mr Green added: "We have been reassured by the local outbreak management team that these measures allow us to continue to provide the full range of pharmaceutical services without any risk to the public."
Amazon said a warehouse worker at its Gourock site was in quarantine
In a statement, Amazon said they were supporting the individual in quarantine and were following guidelines from health officials about operations at their buildings.
They added: "We have implemented proactive measures to protect employees, including increased cleaning at all facilities and maintaining social distance."
