An NHS Trust is asking people showing symptoms of the winter vomiting bug to stay away from hospitals.

The Barking, Havering, and Redbridge University Trust (BHRUT) said it has recorded its first case of the season of norovirus on one of its hospital wards.

The trust, which runs Queen’s Hospital in Romford and King George Hospital in Goodmayes, and is in special measures, urged people to stay away for at least two days after the symptoms end.

Symptoms usually last for between 12 and 60 hours and often start with the sudden onset of nausea followed by projectile vomiting and diarrhoea.

Most sufferers recover within days.

Director of Infection Prevention and Control, Dr Ian Hosein, said: “Norovirus is one of the most infectious agents that we face in the NHS, and it causes significant disruption to the services hospitals can provide.

“The virus always begins with spread in the wider community and then it gets into hospitals.

“I am hoping that the public will get behind us and stop more cases coming on to the wards.

 “Helping us to defeat the winter vomiting virus and preventing outbreaks will mean that we will have more hospital beds available to care for patients.”