Coronavirus: Six percent of staff at virus-hit hospital test positive

Bosses at a hospital that closed its doors to new patients because of a high number of coronavirus cases have said about 100 staff are infected.

In a message sent to staff, seen by the BBC, Weston General Hospital said most of its 1,700-strong workforce had been tested, and results indicated 6% were infected and asymptomatic.

It added that no new cases of Covid-19 had been identified among patients.

The hospital in Weston-super-Mare shut its doors to new patients on Monday.

On Thursday the NHS trust that runs it said the hospital would stay shut to new admissions for at least a week.

The message to staff also stated a second round of testing would begin on Monday morning.

Bill Oldfield, medical director of the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We have now completed testing of the current inpatients and no patients who were previously green, or not with coronavirus infection, have become infected so it looks like any intra-hospital transmission has now stopped."

He said it was too early to say what was the "root cause" of the outbreak at the hospital.

He added that staff working at Weston General Hospital had been asked to no longer work in "any other healthcare situation".