Covid in Scotland: Borders General Hospital ward cases rise further

A "deep clean" has been carried out of the ward at the centre of a Covid outbreak at Borders General Hospital.

A further eight cases have now been reported - taking the total to 22 since the incident began.

NHS Borders said the ward would reopen after the clean-up as it continued to deal with the outbreak.

Associate director of acute services, Gareth Clinkscale, said every effort was being made to keep patients and staff as safe as possible.

The outbreak was first confirmed at the site near Melrose less than a week ago.

Numbers have more than trebled since then, with the majority of those affected transferred to dedicated Covid wards.

"Visiting to the Borders General Hospital remains limited to essential visits only," Mr Clinkscale said.

"This decision will be reviewed again on Wednesday and we thank you for your understanding.

"People should continue to attend appointments as normal."

The Scottish Borders has one of the lowest infection rates for coronavirus in Scotland and was moved into level one restrictions on Friday.