Tougher coronavirus restrictions could be put in place in Dundee following a spike in locals testing positive for the disease.
Health officials are considering whether stricter measures are needed to stop further spread in the city after 60 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the NHS Tayside area in the past day.
Speaking at the Scottish Government’s daily coronavirus briefing on Monday, national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch said the bulk of the health board’s new cases were “concentrated” in Dundee.
His comments came after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was quizzed on the potential for stricter coronavirus measures in the city.
She confirmed that there is “a question” around whether Dundee “needs to go up a level” as Scotland prepares for a new tiered system for handling the pandemic.
MSPs are due to debate the new framework on Tuesday.
No decision on imposing stricter measures in Dundee has yet been taken.
Ms Sturgeon said: “Dundee is an area that we are looking closely at.
“As we allocate parts of the country to levels it is quite likely too that significant parts of the Central Belt might stay in broadly the level they are currently in just now for a further period, but Dundee would be one of the areas where there is question at the moment about whether it needs to go up a level.
“No decision has been taken there but it is one part of the country we are looking at closely. Lanarkshire is another part of the country that I said on Friday we have some concerns.”
Professor Leitch added: “Dundee city does concern us. The NHS Tayside health board has 60 cases today, it has been around that level for a few days now but they are concentrated in Dundee city and that is what you’d expect in an urban centre.
“We know that is in the main a higher risk when there aren’t specific outbreaks in the rural areas.
“So we do locally, the public health team, and nationally, remain concerned about Dundee city.”
Ms Sturgeon announced last week that a new five-level approach would be introduced across the country from November 2 and the level will depend on the spread of Covid-19 in local authority areas.
The current restrictions in place across most of Scotland would fall under “level two” while much of the Central Belt is under the third.
