Mercy Hospital shuts to visitors to stop spread of bug

A busy city centre hospital in Cork has shut its doors to visitors until midday today in an attempt to halt the spread of the winter vomiting bug.

The Mercy University Hospital, a 350-bed acute hospital, first introduced visitor restrictions last Monday after six cases of the highly infectious norovirus were identified, including in the cardiac ward.

That number had dropped to five cases yesterday. A spokesperson for the hospital said it was no longer in the cardiac ward but remained in two other wards.