Highland Council has moved to reassure residents in the more remote areas of the region that they will not be forgotten and every effort will be made to provide the support they need.
The council says it fully appreciates how concerning a time this is for those living in remote areas, and is working hard with a range of agencies to ease those concerns.
This includes working with partners within the Highlands and Islands Local Resilience Partnership and ten Local Community Hubs (LCH) to ensure critical supplies reach the most remote areas of Highland.
The key roles of the hubs include working with community sector partners and responding to requests for support from communities, co-ordination of the distribution of food to the most vulnerable and at-risk clients and the co-ordination of the delivery of medicines and prescriptions, working with the community pharmacy network.
Each LCH is supported by Highland Council staff and they are supported through the virtual regional community hub, which receives all requests for support and offers of support from community groups and allocates them to the LCHs.
Highland Council chief executive Donna Manson said: “We fully understand how concerning the current situation is for all of our residents, but particularly for those living in the more remote areas of the Highlands.
“I would like to reassure you that we have plans in place to ensure essential supplies, and emergency health care, will reach you and we are working with our partners to enable this to happen.”
Individuals and Community groups who have concerns, needs or who can offer help, can call our free help line on 0300 303 1362.
Information about the “shielding,” of the most vulnerable members of the public can be found at www.highland.gov.uk/shielding