There's a real concern on the islands about the level of spread coronavirus has

Hospital visiting has been severely restricted because of the new outbreak.

And perhaps more worryingly is the fact that six of them are in the Islands only acute hospital!

Chief executive Gordon Jamieson confirmed the figures last night in his Twitter broadcast.

He said: “There have been 10 new cases of Covid-19 in the Western Isles today (January 27). Six new cases are linked to an outbreak in the WI Hospital, a cluster of three in Benbecula and one new positive case in South Uist.”

As a result of this hospital outbreak, visiting has been severely restricted.

A spokesperson for the hospital said: “As a result of the new positive cases of COVID-19 in Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway, the decision has been taken to temporarily restrict visiting while contact tracing is underway.

“Until further notice, visiting will be restricted to Essential Visiting only. This means that those identified as Designated Visitors will be unable to visit until further notice.”

NHS Western Isles had, up until now, been allowing one Designated Visitor for each inpatient for the duration of their stay in hospital.

Essential visits will still be permitted. These include but are not limited to:

A birth partner supporting a woman during hospital visits

For a person receiving end-of-life care

to support someone with a mental health issue such as dementia, a learning disability or autism where not being present would cause the patient to be distressed

to accompany a child in hospital.

The spokesperson went on: “Essential Visits will be made by pre-arranged appointments to ensure the number of people in the clinical area at any one time is limited to maintain a safe physical distance.

“We aim to be person-centred, however we cannot guarantee you will be provided with your personal choice of visiting time.

NHS Western Isles will continue to promote virtual visiting.

NHS Scotland stats for the WI show that positive cases in January, as of yesterday are: Stornoway: 8; Barra outbreak: 50; South Uis: 4 and Benbecula: 8.

The total number of tests carried out is 6704

Ten new cases of Covid - and six are in the Western Isles Hospital!