A Highland hospital has restricted visiting following a 'significant' rise in the number of patients with respiratory illnesses.
Belford Hospital in Fort William is only permitting essential visits to its two wards which include patients receiving end-of-life care.
NHS Highland said the measure was part of 'standard infection prevention and containment measures'.
It is the first time that a hospital has put restrictions in place since the pandemic was at its height.
Nicola Sturgeon warned yesterday that the current NHS crisis is being heightened by a combination of Covid, winter flu and Strep A.
An estimated one in 25 people had Covid before the New Year while more than 400 Scots with the virus were admitted to hospital last week.
The SNP leader said the country is enduring "extraordinary levels" of flu with more than 1,000 patients treated in hospital with the infection in the past two weeks.
The first minister advised Scots to wear face masks again while using public indoor spaces.
A spokeswoman for NHS Highland said: "The Belford Hospital currently has a significant number of patients with respiratory illnesses on both in-patient wards.
"As part of our standard infection prevention and control assessment and containment measures, we have introduced restricted visiting processes.
"The Belford Hospital is currently closed to full visiting, but essential visiting continues (essential including, for example, end-of-life care).
"Visitors should please contact the ward before visiting so our staff can support them with visiting arrangements.
"We would also like to remind people to avoid visiting vulnerable people in hospitals and other health and social care settings if they have flu-like symptoms or are feeling generally under the weather.
We are also strongly advising people to think about whether they really need to come in to visit people in hospital at this time.
"Reducing non-urgent visitor activity in confined spaces such as hospital wards will help to reduce risk to people who are ill, as well as reducing wider spread of flu in the community."
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