Six new coronavirus cases linked to Aberdeen pub cluster as north-east total rises by 25

Six new coronavirus cases have been linked to a recent cluster in Aberdeen, NHS Grampian has said.

The news came as fresh Scottish Government statistics showed a rise in the total number of cases in Grampian over the past 24 hours.

The running total has increased by 25 to 1,812.

There has been a steady number of new Covid-19 cases in the north-east since an outbreak linked to a number of Aberdeen pubs was detected earlier this month.

A NHS Grampian spokesman said: “We have, to date, identified 1044 close contacts. Contacts can be entered into our system multiple times, as they are identified by detected cases as part of a household or group. Therefore, the number of close contacts does not represent 1044 unique individuals.

“25 new cases have been detected in Grampian; it is not known how many of these may be associated with the city cluster.

“The advice to the wider public remains unchanged. They should only get tested for Covid-19 only if they develop symptoms.”

Earlier today, it was revealed that only one pub in Aberdeen has been asked to provide its list of customers to the NHS contact tracers who are investigating the city’s coronavirus outbreak.

The cluster, first associated with The Hawthorn Bar, led to the city being put into a fresh lockdown last week, with pubs and restaurants being closed and restrictions put on travel and gatherings.

More than 20 other north-east premises were initially named by NHS Grampian as having been attended by people who had tested positive, and experts went further this week and said that almost all pubs in the city could have been affected.

There have been more new cases in Grampian in August than there were in the whole of June and July.

Across Scotland, there have been 51 new cases in the past 24 hours but no new deaths registered.