A popular Aberdeen pub has shut its doors to customers after several staff members tested positive for coronavirus.
Bosses at the Brig O’ Don on King Street have taken the decision to temporarily close their premises after four people from their team contracted Covid.
In light of the detected cases, the majority of the team has been asked to self-isolate as a precaution.
The venue, which is owned by pub and beer giant Greene King, announced the closure on social media on Friday – saying they have taken the news “extremely seriously”.
However, general manager Aidan Campbell has highlighted there is no evidence of any transmission of the virus in the pub.
In a post on Facebook, he said: “Unfortunately, four of our team have received positive test results for Covid-19 and as a result the majority of the team have been asked to self-isolate as a precaution.
“We could remain open as there’s no evidence to suggest there was any transmission in our pub, but we don’t want to do so when we’re not confident we’ve got enough people available to run the pub to its usual high standard.
“We’re therefore just briefly closing until either people can come back to work or we get some extra people in to help us out in the short term.”
The post continued: “The team have all worked really hard since reopening to operate extremely high hygiene and cleaning standards as ultimately everyone’s safety is our priority.
“We’ve taken this news extremely seriously and liaise regularly with health authorities.
“Thank you for your understanding and we hope to see you again soon. We will confirm our reopening date in a few days’ time.”
Highest Covid case rates in the country
The closure of the pub comes after Aberdeen recorded its second Covid death this week on Friday.
Old Aberdeen also has the second-highest case rate in the area over the last seven days – with a rate of 705 per 100,000 population – after Garlogie and Elrick in Aberdeenshire.
Data released by the Scottish Government yesterday showed that Garlogie and Elrick continue to be the neighbourhood with the highest case rate in the country.
Friday’s figure for the area was 1,987.77 – down from more than 2,000 on Thursday.
However, while the seven day rate per 100,000 in the neighbourhood is lower than the day before, it remains considerably higher than all other places in Scotland.
In a population of just under 4,000 there have been 78 positive cases in Garlogie and Elrick in the past week.