Hospital's ban on virus victims

A hospital is urging people with a highly-infectious vomiting bug not to seek treatment at casualty.

A spokesperson for the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading said the norovirus was more prevalent than ever as people returned to work after Christmas.

The contagious bug causes vomiting and diarrhoea and people should not risk bringing it into hospitals, they said.

The advice is to stay at home for 48 hours after symptoms have gone to cut the risk of the bug spreading.

Cases doubled

Almost three million people have been affected by the norovirus bug so far this winter, figures released on Friday suggest.

Surveillance from the Health Protection Agency shows cases in England and Wales are double those seen last year.

The HPA said the norovirus season began unusually early.

For every one of the 1,922 reported cases, it is estimated another 1,500 have been unreported.