May 29, 2020 2.15 pm This story is over 46 months old

Over 250 Lincolnshire hospitals staff had coronavirus, one died

Almost two thousand staff tested for COVID-19
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More than 250 hospital staff in Lincolnshire have had coronavirus according to bosses, with just one death of a nurse.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust chief executive Andrew Morgan confirmed that so far 1,836 staff have notified the trust that they have been tested for the virus.

However, the figure could be higher due to staff not being required to notify the trust when they take a test.

So far, 251 of those tests have come back positive.

The 13.67% infection rate is far lower than the East Midlands average, which last week was 18%.

There are currently fewer than 400 staff working at home or in self-isolation due to the virus at any one time. This is down from around 600 at the peak.

Mr Morgan sent a “big thank you” to his staff for their “fantastic efforts”.

“They continue to amaze me with their professionalism and caring,” he said before also thanking the public for their efforts to combat the virus.

Anujkumar Kuttikkottu Pavithran, a staff nurse at Boston Pilgrim, is the only ULHT employee to have died of coronavirus.

Just one ULHT staff member died from the virus

44-year-old Pilgrim Hospital nurse Anujkumar Kuttikkottu Pavithran, was the youngest person to die in Lincolnshire at the time he passed away on Monday, April 27.

He began feeling unwell after a night shift on March 31. After he self-isolated for seven days, his condition worsened and he was rushed into intensive care.

By April 16 his condition worsened further, and he was transferred to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, where he died.

He had worked for the NHS for nine years. He left behind wife Sandhya and two boys aged 12 and three.

Because he died at a hospital in Leicester, his death is not recorded in the official Lincolnshire count, which was 131 at the time of writing.