Ealing Hospital has reintroduced its policy of compulsory face masks for patients and visitors in clinical areas and waiting rooms.

The return to mandatory face masks in all hospitals managed by the London North West University Healthcare Trust (LNWH) comes amidst a rise of Covid-19 cases in the UK where around 2.7m people had coronavirus in the week ending 29 June, up by 420,000 on the week before.

Ealing and Northwick Park hospitals have both reported an increase in admissions of people with Covie-19 but the majority of these cases have been relatively mild and LNWH has reassured the public that the return t mandatory facemarks is precautionary.

Helen Hardy, Deputy Head Nurse for LNWH said, "We are adopting a more cautious approach but there will be no changes to our current visiting policy.

"It's about protecting our more vulnerable patients and staff so we are asking visitors to wear PPE and masks in wards and clinical areas."