Health and care workers are going above and beyond to protect Covid-19 patients on the frontline.

Staff are removing themselves from their family homes or sending their children to live with relatives in a bid to protect their loved ones from potentially catching the virus.

“The worry of bringing it home is just too much”, one nurse said as she described her decision to move to temporary accommodation.

Another described being “utterly heartbroken” to leave her family.

I will do everything I possibly can to keep my family safe.

Here are some anecdotes gathered by the PA news agency:

– A Merseyside-based orthopaedic nurse who moved out of her family home because she feared she could infect her mother, father, sister and young son inadvertently. The member of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said she was “utterly heartbroken” to leave her family.

– A GP who is avoiding all physical contact with his family, including his newborn baby girl told the news agency: “I will do everything I possibly can to keep my family safe.”

– A consultant anaesthetist who is only able to see his wife and 15-year-old daughter by waving at them through a window. His wife had a kidney transplant seven years ago and is classed as “extremely vulnerable” so is shielding herself at home.

– One NHS nurse said: “I am probably going to move out into temporary accommodation away from my kids while I work. The worry of bringing it home is just too much”.

– Meanwhile an obstetrician and gynaecologist who is in “double isolation” said he had banned his family from visiting. The medic, who works in the south west of England, works some distance from his family so opted to stay near to his hospital so he would not contravene social distancing rules. He has since developed a fever and is not working until he can be tested. “My family is with me every night over video call but I’ve banned them completely for anyone from even thinking of coming,” he told the PA news agency.

– A nurse in the south east of England said she had left the home she shares with her husband because she is concerned she could infect him or her family. She told the RCN she does not know when she will be able to come back.

– One student RCN nurse, in her 30s – who has two children, said she was considering sending her children to stay with their grandmother because she does not want to risk infecting the youngsters or having to self-isolate at home if they start showing symptoms.