Public asked to avoid Beaumont A&E

Beaumont Hospital has appealed to the general public not to visit its Accident & Emergency Department if they have the symptoms of the Winter Vomiting Virus.

A spokesperson for the hospital said that over the past weekend a number of people had attended the A&E with the symptoms, unnecessarily increasing the risk of infection for other patients.

Tight restrictions on visiting patients in the wards are still being imposed as part of the hospital's efforts to contain the virus.

The hospital has had 19 new suspected cases of Winter Vomiting Virus over the past 24 hours.

As of this morning a total of 63 patients were displaying symptoms consistent with the virus.

Elective admissions for medical and surgical procedures at Beaumont are still restricted to only the most urgent cases, but outpatient services are continuing as normal.