By Daniel Wood
The NHS has introduced three temporary ‘pods’ in order to stop the spreading of the virus.
The units have been set up at Dewsbury, as well as Pinderfields and Pontefract.
They will allow suspected carriers to be treated away from other patients at the hospitals.
There have been no confirmed cases of the virus in West Yorkshire yet. The pods are being installed across the UK as a way to stop the spread of the virus.
Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust Board discussed the issue at a meeting on Thursday 13 February.
At the meeting, chief executive Martin Barkley said: “Part of the guidance we’ve been given is to produce pods to go outside of our main hospitals.
“So we are producing three of them for our hospital sites.
“They will be located adjacent to our A&E departments at Pinderfields and Dewsbury and outside our urgent treatment centre in Pontefract.
“They will be in place probably by Monday.
“It’s a very dynamic situation, to put it mildly.”
Nine people have been diagnosed with the virus in the UK. Eight people have completely recovered.
Although there haven’t been any deaths in the UK, the virus has already killed over 2000 in China.
Surgery waiting lists have been kept below a certain level so there is enough capacity to deal with a big rise of coronavirus case numbers.
The trust has urged anyone who believes they may have the virus to ring 111 for instructions and guidance. People should not go straight to the hospital.
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