From Monday April 4, and for this Mother's Day weekend (March 26 & 27), Lister Hospital will be relaxing its coronavirus restrictions.

Prior to today's announcement, visitors had been prohibited from visiting their loved ones in hospital unless there were exceptional circumstances.

Now, patients will be allowed two visitors at a time, who must wear a face mask and not be experiencing coronavirus symptoms.

Visitors will no longer be required to take a lateral flow test, but may be asked to wait outside of a ward if there are a large number of visitors.

A statement from the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust read: "We know how important it is for patients and visitors to see their loved ones and so we will be easing the visiting restrictions at our hospitals.

"Given the high number of COVID-19 cases in our local community, visiting must take place in a very careful and COVID-secure way to keep our staff and vulnerable patients safe.

"We review our approach to visiting on a weekly basis and may be required to change the approach if we feel the safety of our staff and patients is at risk. Our approach to visiting will be reviewed in line with national guidance."