Face masks reintroduced in Lancashire Covid-hit hospitals

Face coverings are required in the two hospitals with immediate effect

Face masks are being reintroduced in two Lancashire hospitals due to a sharp spike in Covid cases.

Patients, visitors and staff must now wear face coverings in Royal Preston Hospital and Chorley and South Ribble Hospital.

The move comes a month after Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust relaxed the rules on mask-wearing in line with revised national guidance.

There are no other changes to visiting rules at the sites.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said there had been days in the past week when up to 35 staff had tested positive for the virus.

Healthcare workers who test positive for Covid must stay off work for at least five days.

Those who have contact with patients need to have two consecutive negative lateral flow test results, at least 24 hours apart, before they can return.

Prof Mohammed Munavvar says staff at Royal Preston had continued to be "very cautious"

The latest figures showed 102 patients over the two hospitals had Covid, although only about a third had ended up on wards as a direct result of being infected.

The Office for National Statistics survey showed in the week to 24 June Cinfections were rising again across the UK, with an estimated 2.3 million people, or one in 30, having the virus - a rise of 32% on the previous week.

Prof Mohammed Munavvar, a senior respiratory physician at Royal Preston, said: "Some of my patients asked me the other day why I was still wearing a mask.

"I had to explain to them that I see so many patients that I don't want to pick something up and pass it on."

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