A HEREFORD nursery has been forced to close after one of its children tested positive for coronavirus.

Lollipops on the Common, based at Widemarsh Children's Centre, said it was "with great sadness" they confirmed the temporary closure.

The nursery said the child had been for a Covid-19 test on Saturday, but was still taken to the centre on Monday morning. The child tested positive, the nursery later found out.

"We would like to express that we have worked very hard to put stringent procedures in place regarding Covid-19 to keep all of our children, parents and staff safe," they said in a statement.

"But unfortunately today [Monday] a child has been dropped off for their normal session at nursery (having had a covid test on Saturday) the parents have sadly not shared this information with us until they rang mid-morning to confirm the child had had a test and it had come back positive."

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The nursery added the implications of the case "are huge" and they will now be closed until October 20. Public Health England were, however, pleased with the measures the nursery had put in place.

"We now have a high number of children and staff having to self isolate for 14 days, this has now forced us as a setting to close," they said.

"We would like to ensure parents that we have been working with Public Health England today and they were very pleased with our Covid-19 risk assessment and our policies and procedures we have in place.

"As I am sure we are sharing the same frustrations this situation has put us all in, and we can only thank our parents for their understanding at this terrible time.

"Public Health England has confirmed we are able to reopen on Tuesday, October 20."