North Ayrshire Council is reassuring worried parents and carers this afternoon following reports of a Covid outbreak at a Saltcoats school.
The school at the centre of the discussion is the town's St Matthew's Academy.
And it's stated that ongoing contact tracing by the Test & Protect team is 'community-based'.
The current seven-day infection rate per 100,000 population in North Ayrshire is 86.8
In a statement issued to Ayrshire Live, the local authority said: "North Ayrshire Council would like to reassure parents and pupils that there is NO outbreak of coronavirus at St Matthew’s Academy.
"Parents should be assured that we are making every effort to ensure the safety and wellbeing of children, young people and staff as they return to our schools.
"As such, we can confirm that no pupils who have recently tested positive for coronavirus have been in St Matthew’s Academy school building during their infectious period."
The statement continued: "Director of public health, Lynne McNiven, has confirmed that there are currently no contract tracing procedures taking place within the school. Any contact tracing related to recent positive cases of people associated with the school has been community-based.
"It’s important that our young people can start seeing their friends again and engage with their teachers, and strict measures will be in place to mitigate any risks of transmission of the virus to allow this to happen."
Scotland's schools will open up to senior secondary pupils later this month on a part-time basis to allow them to complete work for national qualifications.
Pupils in primaries 1-3 returned to the classroom on Monday, February 22 with more students heading back from Monday, March 15.
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