Thorney Croft: Four more residents die at Stranraer care home after testing positive for Covid

• Video report by Jennifer Cordingley

A further four residents at a care home in Stranraer have died in the last week after contracting coronavirus.

That brings the total number of deaths related to Covid-19 at Thorney Croft Care Home to 14, with 46 staff and 46 residents having tested positive.  A statement from Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership said: "Thoughts continue to be with families and with staff at this time."

"...this has been a very difficult and distressing situation for all involved, and note the swift action, dedication and commitment of care home operators Community Integrated Careand their colleagues in how they have responded."

Donnie Nelson is one of the victims of the Thorney Croft Covid outbreak. A well-known local historian, Donnie would have been 89 in March, he had his vaccination at the start of the year but died just seven days later. 

His son Laurence says he's been touched by tributes sent to his dad. He told ITV Border: "What this brings home to me more than anything else was he was my dad, when it comes back to it, we have seen great tributes to him from the Stranraer free press, the local paper, all the groups he was in.

"I was very proud of all of the things he did but the bottom line is he was my old dad. If you'd have asked me about this pandemic last February I'd have been horrified it was going to hit so close to home."

Since the start of the pandemic there have been 241 Covid-19 deaths across Southern Scotland.