SEVEN wards at Maidstone Hospital have been closed to new patients after more than 40 patients contracted a winter vomiting bug.

A total of 41 patients on the seven wards at the hospital in Hermitage Lane had developed diarrhoea and vomiting symptoms linked to Norovirus, also known as the Winter Vomiting Disease, by today.

Bosses at the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust have issued advice to visitors at all of its three hospitals - Maidstone Hospital, the Kent and Sussex Hospital in Tunbridge Wells, and Pembury Hospital - to help prevent the spread of the bug.

They are advising people to clean their hands on entering and leaving wards, not visiting loved ones if they feel unwell, not sitting on hospital beds, limiting their visits and limiting the number of visitors per patient to two at a time.