Coronavirus: Second death at Skye care home with 57 cases - BBC News
Two residents have died and all but four of the others test positive for Covid-19.
An outbreak was detected at Home Farm care home last week

Two residents have died at a care home on the Isle of Skye where 57 people have tested positive for coronavirus.

The outbreak was first detected at Home Farm independent care home in Portree last week.

The company which runs the home, HC One, said 30 of the home's 34 residents - including the two who died - and 27 staff were confirmed to have the virus.

An Army-run mobile testing unit has been set up on Skye following the outbreak.

A spokesman for the home said its thoughts and sympathies were with the families who had lost loved ones.

Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman told the Scottish government's daily briefing that all residents had been isolated in their rooms while the local GP and advanced nurse practitioner undertook "medical assessments".

The health secretary said her "best thoughts and good wishes" went out to those who have tested positive at Home Farm and other care homes across the country.

The GMB union later called for an investigation into the scale of the outbreak at Home Farm.

Drew Duffy, senior GMB organiser for public services, told BBC Radio Scotland's Drivetime with John Beattie: "The numbers involved in the Isle of Skye is just a tragedy, so we do need to immediately look at what was put in place for residents and staff, but clearly this has just highlighted years of underfunding within social care.

"The private sector care homes having been running on minuscule budgets, cutting corners and the crisis has just highlighted the disease that has been austerity for years - they just cannot cope."

A Care Inspectorate report in January - before the UK coronavirus outbreak - raised some concerns about cleaning and staffing at the home.

But the care home insisted these were "swiftly resolved" and it had sufficient staff to maintain "high standards of cleanliness" .

A spokesperson added: "In response to the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, which we have been planning for since February, all colleagues completed additional, specific coronavirus training and infection control training."

A mobile testing unit, run by the Army, has been sent to Skye

Local MSP Kate Forbes, who is the Scottish government's finance secretary, earlier told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme that contact tracing could be used on the island to track the spread of the virus.

"Skye, as a self-contained island community, shows the advantages of contact tracing and I think that contact tracing is going to be an important part of our capability on Skye in dealing with the outbreak," she said.

"That will form a vital part of NHS Highland's response, as you can see from that increased testing capacity and the way that they have already started to make contact, not just with those who have tested, but with their households as well."

Ms Forbes said some members of staff had part-time jobs in the community as well as their work at the care home, making contact tracing an "important" way of containing the virus.

Former Scottish Tory leader Baroness Goldie, speaking on the same programme, said the testing strategy on the island should be designed to "absolutely ensure the safety of residents".

Despite the situation on Skye, the defence minister said it was clear that the UK was "past the peak" of the virus.

She said: "I don't want to in any way diminish the gravity and the horror of what's been happening in the care home, that's been a very tragic and worrying situation.

"But the data now shows that the peak is past.

"We see deaths beginning to fall, we see rates of infection beginning to fall, we see hospital admissions beginning to fall, but that is not a sign that we can relax the restrictions."

Baroness Goldie urged people to adhere to the restrictions put in place to control the virus, saying it was important that the measures were not lifted too early.

Last week, soldiers set up mobile testing sites in Dunoon, Motherwell, Prestwick Airport, Elgin, Galashiels, Stranraer and Peterhead.

A further three sites will be added this week in Peterhead, Thurso and Arbroath.