Another five West Lothian schools have had Covid-19 outbreaks in recent weeks.
West Lothian Council told The Courier that confirmed new positive cases, from either pupils or staff, have occurred at Armadale Primary, Our Lady’s Nursery Class, Pinewood School, St Margaret’s Academy and The James Young High School.
The schools are adhering to guidelines and parents have been informed and provided with a letter from public health.
The numbers of cases at each school is low and therefore the exact number at each school will stay anonymous.
Rules on disclosures say that if the number is less than five cases at any specific school then the number remains confidential.
West Lothian Council’s head of education, James Cameron, added: “We have worked with NHS Lothian’s Health Protection team and parents and the wider school community have been provided with information and reassurance throughout.
“We fully understand that parents and pupils may be concerned.
“We will continue to respond to advice from NHS Lothian and provide information and reassurance to parents and carers, pupils and staff.
“If there are confirmed cases, schools will support any pupil whose education has been disrupted as a result of this occurrence and will support their home learning.”
The Courier revealed on October 7 that 11 West Lothian schools had confirmed outbreaks in the preceding weeks.
The data shows a drop from a high of 100 positive cases reported in the county on October 20.
By October 21 there were 77 positive tests, but on October 22 the number dropped to 54, again on October 23 it was down to 40 and by October 24 there were 23 positive cases returned.
As of October 25 there had been 32 new positive cases and 368 in the last seven days, with a total of 1897 since records began.
There have been 121 Covid-19 related deaths in West Lothian, with 21 of those occurring in the last month, after three month without any fatalities in the county.
