HEALTH chiefs in East Lothian are preparing to open up empty beds in a new state-of-the-art hospital to treat people struck down by coronavirus.

Talks are being held to draw up plans to open up two mothballed wards on the top floor of the £70million East Lothian Community Hospital if called on.

The new hospital, which opened to patients last year, includes two top-floor wards set aside for future use as the population of the county grows.

At a meeting of East Lothian Integration Joint Board's (IJB) audit and risk committee this week, it was revealed that discussions about using the wards to deal with people infected with the virus were ongoing.

Alison Macdonald, chief officer of the IJB, said talks were ongoing about ways to tackle the virus, and to ensure vulnerable people are protected and staff remain safe.

And she said the hospital's additional beds were also being considered.

She said: "We have 44 beds not in use on the top floor and we are preparing in case they are needed.

"The benefits of the community hospital is each room is en-suite and has piped oxygen and piped suction at each bed. It is a well-equipped hospital."

The committee heard that the impact of the virus on East Lothian remained a "big unknown" but contingency plans were being drawn up to protect the county's elderly and more vulnerable residents.

East Lothian Community Hospital opened in November and was built with 132 beds for long-stay patients and 20 ortho rehabilitation beds.

In December, it opened one of its top-floor wards temporarily after NHS Lothian asked for assistance coping with winter pressures.

Currently, 12 of those beds remain occupied with patients expected to be moved out in the coming weeks.

Councillor Sue Kempson, chairperson of the audit and risk committee, said the biggest risk posed by coronavirus at the moment was the uncertainty about what would happen.

She said: "I have no idea what is going to happen or how long it is going to go on for.

"It is a big unknown, which makes it so difficult to plan for."

It comes as cases of coronavirus in the Lothians have now reached seven.

Latest figures published this afternoon show that two new cases of the virus, called COVID-19, have been confirmed in the region in the past 24 hours.

As with all cases, details of where the infected people are from has not been released by the Scottish Government.

Across Scotland, the number of cases has risen by four to 27 - two new cases were also confirmed in Grampian.

A total of 2,234 tests have been completed across Scotland and 2,207 have been confirmed as negative.

Scotland’s first case was confirmed in Tayside on March 1.

The Lothians saw its first case confirmed five days later on March 6.

The virus, which has claimed the lives of six people across the UK, was first identified in Wuhan in China in December last year.