{"id":622785,"date":"2026-09-12T21:04:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T21:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/622785\/"},"modified":"2026-09-12T21:04:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-12T21:04:46","slug":"covid-outbreak-at-irish-hospital-as-statement-issued-on-number-of-cases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/622785\/","title":{"rendered":"Covid outbreak at Irish hospital as statement issued on &#8216;number of cases&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Northern Health and Social Care Trust has confirmed a Covid-19 outbreak at Antrim Area Hospital in Northern Ireland and announced enhanced infection control measures to protect patients, visitors and staff<\/p>\n<p>Kirstie McCrum and James Martin McCarthy<\/p>\n<p>13:09, 08 Sep 2026<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A doctor handles a COVID-19 test at the Professor Alejandro Posadas National Hospital in the municipality of El Palomar, province of Buenos Aires, on September 18, 2020, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.\" loading=\"eager\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0_JS219152542.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"The Trust confirmed that heightened infection prevention and control protocols were put in place (file photo)\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">The Trust confirmed that heightened infection prevention and control protocols were put in place (file photo)(Image: RONALDO SCHEMIDT\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The Northern <a aria-label=\"HealthLink opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/all-about\/health\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">Health<\/a> and Social Care Trust has released a statement after a <a aria-label=\"coronavirusLink opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/all-about\/coronavirus\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">coronavirus<\/a> outbreak occurred at <a aria-label=\"AntrimLink opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irishmirror.ie\/all-about\/antrim\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">Antrim<\/a> Area Hospital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The Trust confirmed that heightened infection prevention and control protocols were put in place across a limited number of clinical areas as a precautionary measure to reduce the risk of transmission.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">They have also urged visitors who are unwell or displaying symptoms to refrain from visiting friends or relatives in healthcare facilities until they have recovered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">A Northern Health and Social Care Trust spokesperson informed <a aria-label=\"\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.belfastlive.co.uk\/news\/northern-ireland\/health-trust-statement-following-covid-34584407\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"\">Belfast Live<\/a>: &#8220;Many respiratory viruses, including COVID-19, continue to circulate within our communities, and a small number of cases were successfully managed in line with our infection prevention and control processes at Antrim Area Hospital in recent weeks.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Antrim Area Hospital\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0_Antrim-Area-Hospital.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p aria-label=\"Antrim Area Hospital\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Antrim Area Hospital(Image: Liam McBurney\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Enhanced infection prevention and control measures were implemented in a small number of clinical areas as a precaution to minimise the risk of transmission, and protect patients, visitors and staff. These measures were effective, and the situation has now been brought to a close.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;We would like to take this opportunity to remind visitors who are feeling unwell or experiencing symptoms of a respiratory infection to take appropriate precautions to help reduce the spread of infection and, where possible, avoid visiting friends or relatives in healthcare settings until they are feeling better.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;We continue to ask patients, visitors and staff to follow good hand hygiene practices and to adhere to infection prevention and control measures across all of our facilities. These measures help us to reduce the risk of transmission and maintain a safe environment for everyone using our services.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Want to see more of the stories you love from the Irish Mirror? Making us your preferred source on Google means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusives&#8230; To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, <a aria-label=\"simply click hereLink opens in a new tab.\" class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?sa=E&amp;source=gmail&amp;q=https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=irishmirror.ie\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"0\" target=\"_blank\">simply click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Northern Health and Social Care Trust has confirmed a Covid-19 outbreak at Antrim Area Hospital in Northern&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[158,103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":["post-622785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-coronavirus","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}