Covid outbreak confirmed at Mayo University Hospital as visiting restrictions are put in place

Management at Mayo University Hospital (MUH) have informed the public that visiting restrictions have been put in place at the Castlebar facility

A statement has outlined: "Members of the public should not visit the hospital except on compassionate grounds and these visits should be arranged in advance with the nurse manager on the ward.

"The hospital is currently managing an outbreak of Covid-19 (an outbreak is defined as two or more cases), as is the situation in many other hospitals around the country.

"Currently there are two wards closed for new admissions due to a number of confirmed cases of Covid-19.

"The hospital is following the national public health guidance in relation to the management of suspect cases, confirmed cases and close contacts.

"Covid-19 testing and contact tracing of both staff and patients has been carried out to ensure the protection of public health.

"The hospital is directly updating patients and families impacted.

"It is really important that patients who are attending MUH for an appointment continue to follow all the public health guidance including wearing a face mask.

"We also remind patients to attend their appointments alone, unless the support of another person is essential.

"We would also like to remind the public that we encourage them to attend the emergency department (ED) only in the case of real emergencies.

"If your health problem is not an emergency you should contact your GP during normal surgery hours or the Westdoc GP out of hours service, in the first instance."

Earlier today, Mayo HSE Forum member, Councillor Michael Kilcoyne, submitted a letter to Tony Cavavan, chief executive officer, of the Saolta Hospital Group.

In his correspondence, Councillor Kilcoyne said he understood there had been a new Covid outbreak at MUH in the last number of days, affecting both patients and staff.