Katherine Sutton, NHS Highland’s Chief Officer (Acute), said: “We continue to see an increasing number of COVID-19 cases in our communities and this is having a direct impact on our staffing levels. This means we are at risk of being unable to deliver services across our acute hospital sites.

“We have worked closely with our colleagues in infection control and we believe restricting visiting will help reduce the risk of introducing infection from the local community into our hospitals, and give us the best chance to protect our patients and staff.

“We understand that this decision will cause anxiety for our patients, families and staff, however we believe the move to essential visiting across the hospitals will help us reduce the spread of the virus into our hospitals.”