A patient has tested positive for COVID-19 at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford. They are being cared for in isolation by highly specialist and experienced teams.
A spokesperson for the East Kent Hospitals Trust said: “We have been preparing to care for patients with COVID-19 and we are following Public Health England and NHS guidance.
“It is safe to come to our hospitals in Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone and Margate. If you are well and have a planned appointment at the hospital, please attend as normal unless we contact you. We would like to thank our staff for continuing to work tirelessly to care for our patients.
“To help prevent the spread of infection, we have changed our visiting arrangements and at the current time we are asking, where possible, for one visitor at a time to come to the hospital if they are visiting patients on our wards See here.
“Please follow all our infection control measures if you do come to a hospital:
- Do not come to the hospital if you are feeling unwell, including with cold or flu symptoms
- Wash or gel your hands as soon as you enter the hospital and again when you arrive and leave a ward or other clinical area.
Patient advice
“If you are well and have a planned appointment at the hospital, please attend as normal unless contacted by the hospital.
If you have symptoms associated with coronavirus including a new continuous cough and a high temperature and you live alone, you are advised to stay at home for 7 days. Please do not attend hospital. We can rearrange your appointment for you if you let us know.
If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home. After 14 days, you and anyone you live with who does not have symptoms can return to their normal routine.
The most up-to-date public guidance is always online at www.nhs.uk/coronavirus
If your symptoms are serious, or get worse, NHS 111 has an online coronavirus service that can tell you if you need further medical help and advise you what to do.
Only call 111 direct if you are advised to do so by the online service or you cannot go online.”
National situation
As of 9am on March 19, 64,621 people have been tested in the UK, of which 61,352 were confirmed negative and 3,269 were confirmed positive. As of 1pm 144 patients in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) have died.
There are 25 confirmed cases for Kent and eight in Medway.