Patients have gone down with a sickness and diarrhoea bug at a Norfolk hospital.

Val Newton, acting chief nurse and director of infection prevention and control at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, said it had seen a number of patients arriving at the hospital suffering from norovirus symptoms.

'To help prevent further cases, we are asking people who have suffered from diarrhoea and sickness over the last 72 hours to please refrain from visiting the hospital,' she said.

'We would also ask all visitors to ensure that they wash their hands with soap and water on arrival as this is the most effective way to remove the virus.'

Norovirus is easily spread by touching surfaces or objects which have the virus on them, like a door handle. It can also spread through close contact with someone who is infected.

Five patients have so far contracted it.