Covid restrictions will remain in place at Colchester Hospital
The Trust behind the hospital says it will be continuing with mask wearing
The NHS Trust behind Colchester Hospital says it will continue with its COVID-19 measures despite restrictions easing nationally from today.
The East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Trust says it will continue to stick with things like mask wearing, social distancing, and hand washing.
It says that national guidance says people in healthcare settings up and down the country should continue with these safety measures.
It added that coronavirus has not gone away and anyone who gets it can become seriously ill or have long-term effects, regardless of their vaccination status.
ESNEFT Chief Executive Nick Hulme said:
"We are urging everyone to play their part. Please continue following all the guidance we have in place at ESNEFT to reduce the risk of Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection for those working in our hospitals and for those who need our care.
"Our priority is to keep everyone safe and as we are still seeing an increase in the number of people testing positive in the community and a number of new Coronavirus (COVID-19) admissions, we're asking all patients, visitors and staff to carry on wearing face masks and to stick with social distancing and hand hygiene measures in our hospitals.
"Visiting restrictions and specific arrangements for attending appointments will also continue for now.
"All these measures have helped to protect you during the pandemic. They have also helped us to continue providing many non-urgent services, which may have otherwise been stopped.
"As always we will keep all of our arrangements under regular review and we will make changes as quickly and as safely as we can."
Visitors are also strongly advised to take a quick Covid test before attending any of their sites.