Covid 19 coronavirus: Whanganui Hospital gears up for a second alert level 2 experience

Business will continue as usual at Whanganui Hospital under alert level 2, with no surgeries or procedures deferred due to Covid-19.

During alert level 4 the Whanganui District Health Board (DHB) had to defer 130 surgeries, all of which it has now caught up on.

DHB chief executive Russell Simpson said visiting rules will continue as normal under alert level 2 but people are asked to maintain social distancing and they must sign in with the QR code at the front entrance.

Whanganui Hospital's Emergency Department is still operating as usual under alert level 2. Photo / Bevan Conley

People can only enter the hospital via the front entrance and the emergency department.

"We also ask they limit the number of people visiting and although we haven't set a specific number we want to maintain social distancing requirements," Simpson said.

Last time the hospital was in alert level 2 all patients were able to have more than one visitor per day but numbers differed from ward to ward.

Under levels 4 and 3, strict visiting guidelines limited patients to one support person in certain wards and none in others.

Patients in the maternity ward, children's ward, critical care units and those receiving palliative care could have more than one visitor at a time, after discussion with the unit manager.

All other patients could have more than one visitor a day, but they had to visit individually at different times of the day.

Visiting hours at Whanganui Hospital remain 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.