The number of coronavirus cases linked to a Perthshire food processing factory has jumped by almost 60% on 24 hours.
The 2 Sisters site in Coupar Angus remains closed after the first case was detected last Friday.
However the number of cases in the cluster has since surged to 68 as of 2pm today.
NHS Tayside said 59 of the confirmed cases were workers at the site, while a further 9 were contacts.
The health board also revealed that so far 844 tests have been carried out through the mobile testing unit on site at the factory, which will remain there until Monday.
Dr Emma Fletcher, associate director of public health for NHS Tayside, said, “We remain in a high state of vigilance across Tayside and we are continuing to monitor all the measures we have put in place to ensure we are doing everything we can to stop the spread of this virus in the community.
“As today’s figures show, there has been a further increase in positive cases but this is what we expected to see.
“We would ask everyone in the Tayside area to be extra vigilant in following the FACTS guidance, and we want to stress this in particular for the over 70s, and those who were shielding or in high-risk groups.
“Arrangements have been made for additional testing units to be available over the weekend and into next week. We would urge all those factory workers who have not been tested to attend, even if they do not have any symptoms.
“One of things that is really important to emphasise is that even if a worker or one of their household contacts has a negative result they still must continue to stay at home and not leave their house until Monday, August 31.”
