A fourth Fife care home is at the centre of a Covid-19 outbreak.
A number of residents at Auchtermairnie Care Home in Kennoway have died after contracting the disease, with 11 residents and at least 22 staff and others linked to the home testing positive.
NHS Fife would only confirm the number who have died is fewer than five, citing confidentiality reasons.
Six people have now died in connection with an outbreak at Canmore Lodge Care Home in Dunfermline. A total of 102 people have now tested positive for Covid-19 – 44 residents and 58 staff – a rise on a previous update given on Thursday when there were 67 positive tests and a “small number” of deaths.
Deaths have also been confirmed at Craigie House in Crossgates and Lomond Court in Glenrothes in the past seven days.
Fife Council co-leader and Kennoway councillor David Alexander said he was “absolutely gutted” to learn of the outbreak at Auchtermairnie and urged everyone to continue following Scottish Government guidance.
“All our sympathy should be extended to everyone involved, not least those who have died,” he said.
“No-one should be in any doubt: this is a well run care home. The last three reports from the Care Inspectorate awarded the care home maximum points for all measured criteria.
“This virus respects no-one. As we move into the Christmas period must do everything we can to suppress it and maintain maximum vigilance.”
A spokesperson for Fairfield Care, which runs the home, said: “We can confirm that recently Auchtermairnie Care Home has had a number of Covid-19 positive tests.
“We have been working closely with our local health partners including NHS Fife to respond to the positive cases.
“We continue to implement our infection control measures and we have the staff, PPE and equipment needed to protect residents and colleagues.
“Our residents are our absolute priority and we continue to put them at the centre of all we do.”
Barchester Healthcare, the owners of Canmore Lodge, said: “We are doing everything possible to contain this outbreak and we are devastated that the virulent disease that is Covid-19 has gotten into the home.
“The team at the home has always followed excellent infection control protocols, evidenced by the fact that they had zero Covid cases in the first wave but as we know Covid is so difficult to contain and testing is not 100% accurate.
“We have been restricting visiting through the use of our Covid secure visiting suites which have been widely praised.
“Fife NHS infection control have recently visited and have been comfortable that all protocols have been followed.
“Our team has been working so hard and this has been recognised by the local authority, Care Inspectorate, local infection control and public health teams.
“Our thoughts are with our residents, their families and friends.”
Six people have died at Craigie House, where 39 people have tested positive, while fewer than five deaths were confirmed at Lomond Court, where 26 residents and 22 staff tested positive.
