The GHA have detected an increase in Covid cases amongst hospitalised patients. However, they wish to reassure the public that this is not causing serious illness.

The Director of Public Health is working closely with the affected Hospital Wards to ensure that robust infection control practices are in place and for those patients who are eligible that they are assessed for anti-viral treatment.

Nevertheless, the GHA have said it would like to remind visitors not to come and visit their families and friends if they themselves have symptoms of this illness such as coughing or a high temperature.

The GHA is committed to keeping Hospital Wards visiting open and to continue protecting both the most vulnerable patients in hospital and those individuals within our community from the serious consequences of Covid infection.

Dr Helen Carter, Director of Public Health, says ‘As foreseen we are going to continue to see waves of Covid infections happening throughout the year. It is really important that members of the public do not come and visit their loved ones at St Bernard’s Hospital or any GHA Elderly Residential Facilities if they have any symptoms, and so help us to continue protecting our most vulnerable patients who may experience serious consequences from this infection especially those whose immune systems is weak. We are kindly requesting the Public’s support in order to enable us to protect our patients and residents. For information, please be informed that currently the GHA is only testing patients with symptoms and thankfully for the majority the symptoms are fortunately mild. We also need to mention that looking at the future, we do anticipate that we will be offering a Covid Vaccine Booster Program this Autumn which I encourage the community to also support, so we can continue protecting those vulnerable to the serious consequences of this infection. I will be constantly reviewing this situation with the aim of managing this current increase of Covid cases.’