A Scots mum was left stunned after her three year-old daughter was sent home from nursery and told she needs to isolate for two weeks because she sneezed in class.
Amy Wood, 38, says she was called on Tuesday morning to collect her daughter Maya after she had 'sneezed a few times'.
The mum-of-four was reeling when staff at the Me2 Nursery in Aberdeen told her three-year-old Maya would now need to 'isolate for 14 days' under Coronavirus rules.
But according to NHS Scotland, sneezing is listed as not being a symptom of Covid. Symptoms of the virus do include; a high temperature, a new or continuous cough and a loss or change in taste or smell.
The furious mum said: "I dropped her at nursery just before 9am and by 10am I had a call to come and collect her.
"I missed the call and they had left a message so when I heard it I automatically assumed something was wrong, like she had hurt herself or something if she was having to come home.
"I couldn't believe it when I called back and was told they were putting her out of the nursery for sneezing. It's not even listed as one of the Covid symptoms.
"It's unbelievable. Our kids have missed enough school and nursery without them being excluded for no good reason."
But when Amy challenged the nursery and insisted that Maya has no Covid symptoms and probably had hayfever, she was dismissed.
Amy added: "All my kids and me have hayfever, but because Maya is so young we haven't officially had her diagnosed but she is likely to have it."
Amy also said that after collecting Maya, she went home and called NHS Track and Trace for guidance and was told there was no reason for the tot to isolate.
She said: "I told Track and Trace what happened and they said she does not have to isolate because she has no symptoms. So why are the nursery making up different rules? It doesn't make any sense."
Amy has since emailed the nursery, run by Aberdeen City Council, to ask why Maya has to remain off for two weeks, but claims no one has responded.
She said: "I emailed them because I want answers. Excluding a child because they have sneezed is not acceptable. They also said 14 days when the Government guidance is 10 days, so even if this was necessary, Maya is missing more nursery than she should.
"It's worrying what all this time isolating is doing to our children. They need to play with other children."
Aberdeen City Council said its nurseries are being 'extra vigilant'.
A spokesperson said: “Advice to parents/carers of children in an ACC-run nursery is that if the child has developed Covid symptoms, they should isolate as per NHS guidance.
“There is additional advice just now to parents and carers to keep unwell children at home until they get better as we want to be extra vigilant, particularly in light of Covid mutations.”
