THOUSANDS of hospital staff have been tested for Covid-19 in the last month after an outbreak was declared at Winchester hospital.

Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Basingstoke, Winchester and Andover hospitals, has been testing more than 3,500 staff who worked at Winchester hospital in the last month, to ensure that those who are positive, but have no symptoms, are isolating at home.

Details of the outbreak have been published in the trust’s Board of Directors meeting papers for October.

It said: “We have declared a Covid outbreak at RHCH (Royal Hampshire County Hospital) and daily outbreak meetings are in place to manage the situation.”

At the time of writing, 1,069 staff had been tested, of which 731 had come back, with three being positive for Covid-19, representing a rate of 0.4 per cent.

The trust aimed to complete its testing by October 21. It said: “We are closely monitoring the situation locally and nationally. Looking at higher and local tier authority case numbers, numbers are currently low for all of Hampshire and IOW (Isle of Wight). The safety of our patients and staff remains our top priority.”