Northamptonshire hospitals re-introduce masks amid Covid cases rise

Kettering General Hospital (pictured) along with Northampton General Hospital have re-introduced masks

Staff, patients and visitors at two major hospitals have been told they will now have to wear masks again.

Northampton and Kettering General Hospitals said it was due to rising Covid cases and hospital admissions in Northamptonshire.

There are 136 people in the two hospitals with Covid, compared to just 15 in May.

In a joint statement the hospitals said "we must do our utmost to protect" patients from Covid-19.

The two hospitals also had about 200 members of staff absent because of a coronavirus infection or because they were self-isolating - the highest level since February.

Bosses at both hospitals said they understood the hot weather would make mask wearing uncomfortable but it was "very important to stop the spread of Covid-19".

In the week to 7 July, Northamptonshire had 1,885 Covid cases, an increase from 1,333 in the previous week.

Northamptonshire's two councils previously said two new sub-variants of Omicron, known as BA.4 and BA.5, appeared to be more infectious than other variants.