February 13, 2020 11.52 am This story is over 49 months old

‘Coronavirus pods’ created in Lincolnshire hospitals

NHS 111 pods will be created over the next week
Lincoln County Hospital. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

NHS 111 Coronavirus pods will be created in Lincolnshire and across the country over the next week, where people will be checked for the virus.

NHS hospitals in England were ordered to create secure areas for Coronavirus testing to “avoid a surge in emergency departments” and hospitals were told to create “Coronavirus priority assessment pods”.

Nine people in the UK have now tested positive for the virus known as COVID-19.

NHS 111 pods are now being created over the next week. The NHS is also trialling swabbing in the community with the view to roll out nationally to make the process quicker and easier.

According to the Grimsby Telegraph, a pod has already been set up in Grimsby’s Diana Princess of Wales Hospital. Two Scartho residents who run the local New Diamond takeaway are said to have voluntarily quarantined themselves after spending Chinese New Year in China.

Skegness hospital was previously reportedly on lockdown amid fears the virus had made its way to Lincolnshire. It later re-opened after fears of the Coronavirus were dismissed.

People in Lincoln received text messages earlier this month telling them not to visit their GP if they have returned from China within two weeks and were feeling unwell.

The University of Lincoln is offering support to staff and students with connections to China. 

The Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England also said as of February 12 a total of 1,758 people have been tested in the UK.

An NHS spokesperson said: “Anyone returning from Hubei province in the last 14 days should stay indoors, avoid contact with other people and call NHS 111 whether or not they are showing symptoms.

“Anyone with a cough, fever, or shortness of breath who attends hospital and has recently returned from one of the specified countries, will be advised to follow signs to NHS 111 pods and call for advice, so they stay isolated from other patients and avoid causing unnecessary pressure in A&E.”

Advice for travellers

Anyone who has travelled from Wuhan or Hubei Province to the UK in the last 14 days should stay indoors and avoid contact with other people, as well as calling NHS 111 to inform them of their recent travel to the area. This advise should be followed even if you do not have symptoms of the virus.

Travellers who have returned to the UK from China, Thailand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, Malaysia and Macau in the last 14 days, and develop symptoms of cough or fever or shortness of breath, should follow the same advice.

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