A PATIENT at a Halstead surgery is being tested for coronavirus following yesterday's (Thursday 12 March) scare. 

The Elizabeth Courtauld Surgery in Halstead was forced to close yesterday after an incident prompted staff to carry out a deep clean of the building. 

A notice on the surgery door said the practice would be closed for 24 hours but it managed to reopen at 6.30pm the same evening.

The surgery has now confirmed that a person has been swabbed for coronavirus at their home. 

The swab has been sent off for testing but it could be at least another 24 hours before the results are confirmed. 

Yesterday's incident came just days after the surgery decided to temporarily suspend its morning walk-in service as a precautionary measure. 

Dr Daniela Kreis is a doctor at the Elizabeth Courtauld Surgery and is advising patients use the 111 service rather than visiting the surgery. 

She said: “The morning walk-in service has been suspended.

“This is a temporary measure against the spread of covid-19. 

“If you think you might have the virus, the right way to deal with it is to call 111. 

“We won’t make treatment decisions for anyone with the virus, so calling 111 is the best course of action.

“We will not be taking any walk-in patients, regardless of your travel history.”

Surgery bosses have contingency plans in case patients ignore the advice.

Dr Kreis said: “We have patients with chronic illnesses and can’t afford to expose them to the virus.

“However, we know there might be people out there who ignore the 111 advice and come in anyway.

"In the event of this, we have set up a second waiting room, separated from the main waiting room. 

“We have opened all the windows in the room to allow for better ventilation and there is a designated doctor to oversee the second waiting room. 

“For the time being we are just looking at preserving the workforce.

“We can’t afford to have our staff fall ill or spread the virus to some of our more chronic patients.”