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The Health Services Authority is banning visits by members of the public to patients at the Cayman Islands Hospital.

The only non-patients or non-staff who will be allowed inside the hospital are parents of children in the paediatric ward and those accompanying women in labour.

“This heightened measure is to protect the most vulnerable to reduce the risk of spreading any virus,” said the Health Service Authority’s CEO, Lizzette Yearwood, in a statement issued Saturday.

“All of our patients and immediate family have been notified of this change in policy,” she added.

All doors into the facility will be locked and only accessible to authorised personnel, health officials said. The Accident and Emergency Unit will remain open to patients who require immediate emergency care.

Anyone who needs to contact a patient can call 949-8600.