Update
Maternity wards at St George and Sutherland public hospitals have been effectivly closed to visitors after South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) introduced tough new restrictions on inpatient visits to minimise coronavirus transmission.
The measures, which came into effect today, apply to all wards, including maternity, and limit visitors to one person at a time, who must be a "partner, carer, guardian or nominated significant other".
A SESLHD spokeswoman said the new guidelines for visiting patients in its hospitals and other facilities was part of measures "to reduce the risk of COVID-19 (coronavirus) spreading".
"We ask that patients are only visited by their partner, carer, guardian or nominated significant other and that they have only one visitor at a time. All wards of the hospitals are taking measures to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading and will be adopting this new visitor policy," the spokeswoman said.
Earlier
There are no plans at this stage to ban visitors from maternity units at St George and Sutherland hospitals despite the worsening coronavirus situation, but anyone with flu-like symptoms are being asked to stay away.
South Eastern Sydney Local Health District (SESLHD) made the comments following a question from the Leader last week. It followed a decision by Sydney Adventist Hospital at Wahroonga to ban visitors to its maternity ward in a bid to protect newborn babies and mothers from coronavirus infection.
A SESLHD spokeswoman said while there were no plans to ban visitors to its maternity wards "at this stage ... we strongly encourage anyone experiencing flu-like symptoms to not visit patients in hospital".
"(SESLHD) encourages individuals who are sick to avoid visiting our hospitals, unless they are attending to seek medical attention," the spokeswoman said.
"This is to limit exposure to infection for the patients in our care.
"This policy applies to all units throughout our hospitals and services, including maternity care sites.
"SESLHD also supports the communications from NSW Health, requesting that those at risk of COVID-19 follow the medical advice provided to them and not visit our hospitals at this time unless it is to seek medical attention."
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant last week asked people to adopt a "commonsense approach" to visiting people in hospital.
She said people should refrain from visiting anyone in hospital if they had even mild symptoms of any illness.
All visitors were asked to wash and sanitise their hands when entering or leaving any wards.
"We are also asking that visitor numbers are kept down ... to one or two visitors per person," she said.
Latest updates on coronavirus are published on the NSW Health website. To view click here.
