Ambulances have been diverted from the A&E department at St Helier Hospital in Sutton, south London, and there are restrictions on visitors after a number of patients tested positive for coronavirus

A hospital has been partially locked down due to a coronavirus outbreak in its intensive care and renal wards.

Ambulances have been diverted from the A&E department and there are restrictions on visitors at St Helier Hospital in Sutton, south London.

The infections were discovered over the weekend, and a major investigation has been launched into how patients being treated for other illnesses became infected with Covid-19.

It is believed that six patients were infected. There is concern that the virus has got into the hospital’s intensive care unit which houses the most sick patients.