Another five people tested positive for Covid-19 in the Western Isles yesterday where stricter lockdown restrictions were brought in last week.
Four new cases are linked to Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway, bringing the total to 23, with another case in Benbecula.
The islands were moved to Level 4 from Saturday in response to the outbreak. So far this year there have been 88 positive cases across the islands.
As well as those linked to the hospital, two other cases were confirmed in Stornoway in January, 50 in an outbreak in Barra, 9 in Benbecula and four in South Uist.
NHS Western Isles is now requiring all staff, patients and visitors to hospitals and other premises to wear clinical face masks to help reduce the risk of spreading the virus.
The masks, which will be provided, must be worn on entry, in communal areas including corridors, stairways, lifts, and in all clinical areas.
People attending health appointment, including vaccination clinics, will not be able to wear their own face coverings.
Anyone medically exempt from wearing a mask must present a Scottish Government Exemption Card.
The health authority said the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends the use of face coverings as they offer additional protection, especially in crowded and less well ventilated spaces, and where two metre distancing is not possible.
At the weekend, NHS western Isles hit out at unhelpful and unjustified “finger pointing” towards health staff and said there had been “questions and accusations” since the Level 4 lockdown was announced.
It said it is clear that locum or agency staff were not the source of the outbreak.
