London·Updated

2 COVID-19 outbreaks declared at University Hospital

The London Health Sciences Centre has declared two COVID-19 outbreaks at University Hospital, one on the fourth floor in the general medicine unit and another on the ninth floor in Orthopaedics.

Three patients on the general medicine unit of the hospital are ill with the virus

An outbreak of COVID-19 has been declared on a fourth floor unit of University Hospital in London, Ont. (Colin Butler/CBC)

The London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) has declared two COVID-19 outbreaks at University Hospital.

The first was delared on the fourth floor in the general medicine unit on Tuesday. Hospital officials would not tell CBC News how many people are affected but in an email sent to hospital staff, LHSC wrote that three people have contracted the virus on the unit.

The second outbreak was declared on Wednesday on the ninth floor in the orthopaedics unit. There is no word on how many patients are infected, but it is believed to be fewer than five.

Visitors and designated care providers to the affected units on the fourth and ninth floors are not being permitted. 

The fourth floor general medicine unit has 60 beds, according to the hospital, and provides care to acutely ill adults. The vast majority of admissions to the unit come from the ER. 

The general medicine and orthopaedics units are now closed to other patient admissions and existing patients are being actively assessed. 

Staff working on the units are not permitted to work in other units until the outbreaks are declared over.