London hospitals still battling computer virus

11 days after infection struck

Three London hospitals are trying to flush a virus out of computer systems 11 days after it first struck.

Engineers at Barts and The London NHS Trust are still trying to restore full network access for all trust staff and to clean the virus from remaining PCs.

The W32/Mytob.gen@mm virus was detected on a network at the trust - which covers St Bartholomew's in the City, The Royal London in Whitechapel and The London Chest in Bethnal Green - on Monday 17 November.

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The trust has launched an investigation into how the infection was introduced and then spread throughout the network.

A spokesman for the trust said patient services were now back to normal.

He said its computer staff had almost eradicated the virus and that only a "very small" number of the trust's 5,000 PCs need to be reconnected to the network.

"A team of IT specialists continues work to re-establish full access for all users of the trust's network, prioritising key areas to support clinical services," he said.

"This is being done progressively to ensure that each PC is free from the virus and the network is not overloaded as users come back online.

"It is expected that all PCs across the network will be clean from the virus soon."

W32/Mytob.gen@mm is a mass-mailing worm and backdoor Trojan.

Patients with appointments at the hospital should attend as normal and the Trust has a helpline for urgent patient queries on 0207 943 1335.