A WEE COUNTY woman is still holding up strong after celebrating her birthday, her daughter's birthday and Mother's Day in self-isolation.

Alloa's Linda McLeod voluntarily went into self-isolation as a precaution on Saturday, March 14.

Having previously been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and knowing coronavirus causes respiratory illness, she said: "I just don't want to tempt fate."

Unlike the government's "stay at home" order, which allows for limited shopping trips and journeys to work where essential, self-isolation measures are much more strict.

The NHS advises anyone self-isolating can only leave their home for exercise once per day, remaining at least two metres away from others.

Otherwise, those in self-isolation must stay at home, and have been told to have food delivered or dropped off by friends.

Outlining just how strict the measures are, Linda – who is in isolation with her husband Andy – said: "There's no one coming in, and no one going out."

She plans to stay in self-isolation for as long as she needs to, and reckons that will be another 10 weeks at the very least.

During her time in self-isolation so far, she has been unable to properly celebrate her own birthday, her daughter's birthday, or Mother's Day.

And it's almost inevitable she will be unable to properly celebrate the upcoming tenth anniversary of Breathe Easy Clackmannanshire – a support group she is part of.

She said: "It's a shame I can't visit my family and they can't visit me.

"[But] I think there's more important things in life than holidays and birthdays – your health has to come first.

"It's just got to be done."

To keep up that resilient attitude, Linda has been working to keep busy as much as she can – even if it's just cleaning up.

She said: "I'm doing something every day: I've cleaned the cupboards, and I have been reading a lot."

Linda also limits the number of times she watches the news, and keeps music on or watches movies.

And no matter how difficult things get, she plans to stick to the self-isolation rules as long as she has to.

When asked what she'd say to anyone tempted to bend those rules, she said: "Listen to the experts, stay at home, stay safe."