Caithness, Sutherland and Ross MSP Gail Ross urges businesses to ensure they are complying with all health protection measures as country's Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown eases

BUSINESSES in Ross-shire have been urged to make sure they comply with all health protection laws as the country emerges from lockdown.

The SNP’s Gail Ross, MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, was speaking as many pubs cafes, restaurants and small businesses reopened their doors this week.

Although the reopening has been welcomed, some concerns have been raised that many are unaware that they must take full details of every customer to support track and trace contacts in the instance of an outbreak.

Mr Ross said: "Thanks to the sacrifices and hard work by many, numbers of Covid-19 in Scotland are manageable at the moment, which I know will be welcome news to us all.

"Moving into the next stage is a real step in the right direction, but we must ensure that we do not move backwards, back to normal simply is not an option.

"It would appear that many businesses aren’t fully aware that they are needed to keep accurate records of all their customers, to ensure that effective tracking can occur if there is an outbreak.

"Whilst this may seem a little daunting at first, for both customers and businesses, there are many electronic methods of doing this and innovative ideas of keeping accurate records."

"I would urge everyone who operates a small business to ensure that they are doing all that they can to protect their customers, staff and ultimately support the suppression of the virus. Our NHS needs us to keep on top of this, keeping accurate registers of all customers is just one part of this, but absolutely critical."

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