Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Highland Council: ‘Whole teams may have to self-isolate in most challenging weeks of Covid’

Highland Council leader Margaret Davidson
Highland Council leader Margaret Davidson.

Highland Council has warned whole teams of staff may need to self-isolate in the days to come amid rising Covid cases.

The authority has warned the “most challenging weeks” of the pandemic lie ahead for maintaining services.

The Scottish Government reported 16,103 Covid cases on Wednesday, January 5 – with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warning one in 20 of Scots had the virus the previous week.

It is expected that daily coronavirus totals will rise in the coming days due to the increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant.

Now Highland Council leader Margaret Davidson has urged residents to abide by current rules and guidance to help keep authority services running.

She said: “We want to keep providing our services as usual in Highland but cannot avoid the fact that local government like other businesses will be adversely affected by the highly infectious Omicron variant.

“Peak levels of Covid are expected in the coming weeks and while our services have business continuity plans in place, we recognise that whole teams could be required to self-isolate which may impact on service provision and mobilisation of replacement staff may not be possible due to location or impact on services elsewhere.

“Council staff have been doing a great job across all teams – indoors and outdoors – wherever they are – keeping things going in their communities in spite of Covid.

“Let’s all help each other out by being patient and mindful, both for council staff and businesses across Highland.

“I simply ask everyone to please continue to follow government guidance.”