THE neighbourhood surrounding Faslane has one of the highest numbers of Covid-19 cases in the whole of Scotland, new figures have revealed.

The official government statistics come as the Ministry of Defence confirmed an outbreak among personnel at HM Naval Base Clyde.

However, NHS officials have said the outbreak has been “contained” at Faslane, home to the UK's nuclear submarines, and that there are no cases in the wider community linked to those at the naval base.

According to figures published by Public Health Scotland, the neighbourhood of Garelochhead – which includes the Royal Navy’s sites at both Faslane and Coulport, as well as the whole of the Rosneath peninsula and the village of Garelochhead itself – had 45 confirmed Covid cases in the seven days leading up to Tuesday, December 1.

That’s the second highest case numbers for any neighbourhood in Scotland – behind only Crathes and Torphins in Aberdeenshire, where there were 47 cases during the same period.

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Helensburgh and Lomond is also home to all the Argyll and Bute neighbourhoods with the highest infection rates for the same period.

Behind Garelochhead, which had a rate of more than 100 cases per 100,000 of population, come Helensburgh East, Helensburgh West and Rhu, and Lomond Shore, all of which had a similarly high case rate.

But the actual numbers of cases in those areas were significantly lower than in Garelochhead: Helensburgh East had seven positive cases, while there were five in each of Helensburgh West and Rhu and in Lomond Shore.

Helensburgh Centre and Helensburgh North each had between one and four cases, at a rate of between 30 and 49 cases per 100,000 of population.

A Royal Navy spokesman told the BBC: "We can confirm that a number of personnel at HMNB Clyde have tested positive for Covid-19 and are under medical supervision.

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"Personnel identified as having been in contact with those who have tested positive are self-isolating in line with established health guidelines."

NHS Highland's director of public health, Dr Tim Allison, said the increase in cases was due to the Faslane outbreak, which was "contained" at the site.

Dr Allison said: "We understand that there are many interactions between this establishment and the local community.

"However, we would wish to emphasise that while there have been a small number of cases over recent months in people who work on the site and live locally, there are no cases in the wider community directly linked to this current outbreak.

"We also recognise that, over the last few weeks, the Helensburgh and Lomond locality has had a higher rate of infection than the rest of Argyll and Bute and we have been monitoring this closely."

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