Hospital halts virus

Christchurch Hospital looks set to return to normal today after staff spent their Christmas holidays battling an outbreak of the highly infectious norovirus stomach bug.

Seven patients and nine staff were last week infected with the bug, which causes severe vomiting and diarrhoea.

The hospital closed two wards to new admissions and transfers and kept ill staff away from work to control the bug.

Stephen Chambers, the hospital's clinical director, infectious diseases control, said there had not been a fresh case of norovirus at Christchurch Hospital since the infection was first detected.