A north-east pharmacy was shut for deep-cleaning this morning after a customer who tested positive entered the store.
Will Chemists in Inverurie announced on social media that they would be shut until the whole premises were cleaned.
They revealed that a patient who tested positive for the virus attended the pharmacy with no face covering.
It is thought they were in the store at about 6pm on Friday night.
The incident has been reported to the police.
Superintendent pharmacist at Will Chemists Galen Will said: “We get a notification from an NHS organisation if there is a specific person that is Covid positive.
“We received a notification that somebody was Covid positive and we were told that a representative of that person would be then tasked to collect medication.
“It was when the request came to the counter in the pharmacy and the name came up and we noticed it was the person collecting for themselves and began to question.
“They were very quickly dealt with and asked to leave the pharmacy.
“The patient concerned was also not wearing the appropriate face covering.
“We are not a basic retail premises. We are a professional organisation and a clinical organisation with a lot of at-risk patients, a lot of shielding patients too who are having to come in and a lot of patients who are scared about coming out for essential medicine.
“We are doing all we can to put these patients at ease and provide as safe and clean and environment as possible.
“Unfortunately there were quite a lot of patients who witnessed the scene and passed comments to the staff afterwards and staff then contacted me.”
The pharmacy closed to allow for a deep-clean to be undertaken before later reopening to members of the public.
Mr Will continued: “We had to do something to put anxious staff and customers minds at ease. I had to take action and my decision was to contact an external cleaning contractor to come in and organise the pharmacy.
“I contacted Viraclean, a company down in Laurencekirk, who were able to get out to us at 7.30am this morning and they used a fogging treatment and sprayed a very fine mist over all products so everything that is touched is then disinfected.
“We are just urging people to follow the guidance if they are delivered a positive diagnosis.
“Please respect pharmacy as a clinical environment with very high-risk patients in the vicinity.
“Please follow the guidance and if you are contacted by track and trace, self-isolate and arrange for a family member or friend from out with your household to collect your prescription and medical supplies.
“If you do not follow the guidance, the consequence is you are putting so many vulnerable people at risk.
“Vulnerable people will not be out browsing retail premises but vulnerable people will be visiting a pharmacy, they have to, so please consider this.”