THE Tontine Hotel in Greenock has had to close its lounge and Eighteen 08 bars after three coronavirus cases were confirmed.

Management say the closure has been necessitated by the fact that other members of staff now have to self-isolate as a precaution.

The hotel itself remains open and customers have been reassured it is safe, reports our sister title The Greenock Telegraph.

A statement from the Tontine said: "It is with a heavy heart we have to report that members of our front of house team have unfortunately confirmed cases of Covid-19.

"The Tontine is currently working closely with NHS Scotland Test & Protect and Inverclyde Council to make sure we are keeping customers, staff and ourselves safe during this time.

"During the pandemic we have always followed guidelines, updates, restrictions and measures put in place to minimise the risk of transmission, resulting in our function suites and hotel rooms being open for business as usual.

"However in order to keep everyone safe and due to staff self-isolation periods only, we have made the decision to close certain parts of the hotel including, our lounge bar area & Bar Eighteen 08."

Residents in the hotel are still being served breakfast as usual with full table service and funeral function bookings are continuing as planned.

The hotel says all food and drink bookings are being contacted in due course.

They added: "We will keep you all updated with our restaurant and Eighteen 08 re-opening dates - hopefully within the next week.

"These are very trying times for any business, however we will be remaining hopeful for the future.

"Our main priority is keeping you, our staff and ourselves safe.

"The hotel is 100 per cent safe and there is no need to worry it’s just that due to our three cases within the hotel, and other staff isolating where there may have been a possibility of contact, we physically don’t have the staff to offer our additional normal services.

"We have taken all the necessary steps as always and look forward to getting back to normal again and hoping our staff make a speedy recovery."