First case of coronavirus is confirmed at Harrogate District Hospital

A statement released on Sunday afternoon said the patient had tested positive for Covid-19 and was being cared for by a highly-skilled team at the hospital.

Robert Harrison, Chief Operating Officer at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We can confirm that we are currently caring for a patient who has tested positive for the COVID-19 infection. They are being very safely cared for by our highly skilled team at Harrogate District Hospital and all of the appropriate protection measures are in place.

“As always, our prime concern is to respect patient confidentiality at all times and we would ask the media to do the same.

“Services continue to run as usual across the hospital.”

The current global outbreak of coronavirus - officially named Covid-19 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) - has been declared a pandemic.

Public Health England has confirmed that more than 1,100 people have now contracted the disease in the UK and that 35 cases have proven fatal.

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