Another patient has died after a coronavirus outbreak in an Edinburgh hospital ward.
Health bosses say three more patients have tested positive for the virus, as well as six members of staff since the outbreak was confirmed in Western General Hospital at the end of last week.
NHS Lothian did not confirm the total number of deaths, but said the death toll in the cancer ward remains under five, and investigations into the outbreak are continuing.
READ MORE: Outbreak at major Scottish hospital as ward forced into lockdown
They say further testing is being carried out, with numerous people being told to self-isolate.
No new admissions are allowed in the oncology ward as it remains closed.
Dr Donald Inverarity, consultant microbiologist and chair of the IMT, said: “We are greatly concerned that another patient has died and wish again to express our condolences to their grieving family.”
“NHS Lothian responded promptly, implementing a range of infection control measures, which we believe has contained the outbreak to one ward.”
“Patient safety is our main priority and we want to reassure patients attending our hospitals that they should continue to come for treatment. It is very important in particular, that patients undergoing treatment for cancer continue to attend their appointments and we assure them that it is safe to do so.”
“Enhanced infection control measures are in place throughout the hospital. All outpatients, visitors and staff are required to wear face coverings or masks in all areas and there are hand sanitising stations throughout the hospital. We are also conducting increased COVID-19 screening of staff and patients.”
“The situation continues to be closely reviewed and monitored. I want to thank everyone who has been affected for their ongoing cooperation and understanding.”
The news comes after we revealed on Monday that a Glasgow hospital closed one of its ward after an outbreak of coronavirus.
Queen Elizabeth University Hospital locked down the ward after a number of positive cases were identified.
A spokesperson for Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: "We have a number of positive cases in a ward at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and staff are working extremely hard to ensure the appropriate measures have been implemented to minimise the spread of the virus.
"This includes the temporary closure of the ward to new admissions and other COVID-19 control measures. All those affected have been contact traced, screened and are self-isolating. All asymptomatic contact patients are being cared for separately from the confirmed cases.
"In the meantime our staff continue to follow strict infection prevention and control guidelines to ensure we’re able to continue treating our patients without putting them at additional risk due to COVID-19."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel