A rise in coronavirus cases is having an impact on health and social care staffing levels in the region.
There were 451 cases reported across Dumfries and Galloway in the seven days up to July 9, a slight decrease on 475 the week before.
But it’s significantly more than the first week of May when just 236 new cases were reported.
Director of public health Valerie White said: “Covid has not gone away and it’s still impacting on lives and the ability to deliver services.
“The situation in terms of health is now much improved with the fantastic uptake of our vaccination programme still helping to limit the worst effects of Covid in the majority of cases.
“It’s extremely important everyone eligible continues to take up offers of booster vaccinations.
“However, Covid-19 remains highly transmissible - particularly the latest sub-variants. This has resulted in new cases and also reinfections. High levels of Covid-19 infection in the community has led to an increase in patients in hospital testing positive for Covid-19 which does put additional pressure on our stretched services.
“Like anyone else, staff working within health and social care are not immune to the spread of Covid and this impacts on the ability to deliver services. It can result in unwelcome delays to treatment and care in already an incredibly busy system working to meet people’s needs.”
