Coronavirus: Jersey's Nightingale hospital opens

The new facility cost £14.4m to build and provides an additional 180 beds

Jersey's Nightingale hospital has been opened by the Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward, via video link in a virtual ceremony.

The new wing of the Jersey General Hospital is designed to provide extra capacity to treat coronavirus patients.

The facility can accommodate up to 180 patients needing critical care, but will not be used for invasive ventilation, the government confirmed.

The £14.4m project was completed after four weeks of work at Millbrook Field.

The UK has built eight similar Nightingale hospitals, however the first was recently mothballed after being in operation for less than a month in London.

The Government of Jersey recently announced about 3,300 people had likely contracted coronavirus, following the completion of antibody testing on a "statistically significant" sample of islanders.

So far there have been 25 deaths on the island, with 294 confirmed cases and 226 recoveries from a total of 3,623 tests.

Rainbow pictures sent in by members of the public decorate one wall of the facility