A care home in Westhoughton is experiencing an outbreak of Covid.
The Woodlands Care Home, a specialist in dementia care, has closed its doors following the outbreak and is restricting its residents to having one visitor a day.
A statement addressed to ‘all relatives’ published on the care home’s social media said: “We are experiencing a Covid outbreak. The home is closed.
“Each resident can have one visitor per day. You are more welcome to ring the home for an update.
“Round one of testing will be 4/10/22. Second round testing 10/10/22, and recovery testing dependent on round one and round two 13/10/22.
“Thank you.”
The care home was approach for comment.
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A spokesperson for Bolton Council said: “COVID-19 has not gone away and can spread more easily in the winter months, along with flu and other respiratory conditions.
“The council continues to offer guidance to care homes and other settings, and robust contingency plans are in place to keep residents safe and reduce the risk of infection.
“We can all play a part in reducing the risk of spreading respiratory diseases by taking simple steps such as letting fresh air in, washing hands regularly and wearing a mask in crowded spaces.
“Our NHS partners began rolling out the autumn booster to care home residents in September.”
There has been a recent spike in Covid-19 infections nationally, which has forced hospitals in East Lancashire to make wearing masked mandatory once again.
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Royal Bolton Hospital has not revised of its policy in with regards to mask.
Tyrone Roberts, chief nurse at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It’s not unusual at this time of year to see viruses spreading, but as we start to see another rise in Covid cases and admissions it’s really important that we take small, sensible steps to keep each other safe and reduce the risk of spreading our germs to others.
“We have always kept the requirement for people who visit our services to wear face masks in patient areas, and this is regularly reviewed.
“If you display symptoms of coughing, sneezing, runny nose or fever please avoid visiting the hospital or other services.
“We’re also asking people who might be infectious to follow basic hygiene measures such as reducing social contacts, covering your mouth when coughing, and regularly washing your hands.”
The spike in cases does not correlate with deaths, which are on a downward trend.
A total of 235 deaths registered in the seven days to September 23 mentioned coronavirus on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This is down 22 per cent on the previous week and is the lowest total since the start of June.
Localised data is no longer being recorded in the same way as it was during the height of the pandemic due to fewer people testing.
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