Another 22 people in Waterford Regional Hospital are suspected of contracting the so-called Winter Vomiting Bug since Friday, the South Eastern Health Board (SEHB) said today.
Forty-five patients and 76 members of staff now have reported symptoms consistent with the Small Round Structured Virus. Of these, 12 patients are still symptomatic and 11 members of staff are still off work.
Initial test results have confirmed the presence of the virus in the hospital.
In response, the SEHB immediately cancelled all non-urgent admissions up until and including next Friday. The hospital has been closed to visitors, apart from exceptional circumstances, and security staff are in place at the entrances to the hospital.
But all outpatient clinic appointments, including fracture clinic appointments, are proceeding as normal. These arrangements are being reviewed on a daily basis.
In Carlow, seven patients and five members of staff at the Sacred Heart Hospital have reported symptoms consistent with the virus. Tests have been carried out and the patients have been placed in isolation.
The hospital has been closed to admissions and the SEHB has appealed to visitors not to come to the hospital, apart from exceptional circumstances.
