Homerton Hospital has now discharged 250 coronavirus patients, with fewer than 40 people still being treated for the virus.

At the peak of the crisis the hospital had 140 patients at any one time but two weeks go cases began to drop, as reported by the Gazette.

As a result, the children’s ward has now been converted back for its intended use and the hospital has urged people not to neglect A&E, saying: “We’re open for business”.

It comes as the temporary Nightingale Hospital at Stratford’s Excel Centre was mothballed on Monday due to a lack of demand for beds.

“At the moment we have no surgical patients in but we’re going to start getting patients back for routine operations and are gearing up for the outpatient service,” said a spokesperson.

They said that switching back to normal service will take more time than it did to prepare for coronavirus, but added: “There has been a startling reduction in A&E patients and we want to get out the message that A&E is really OK for those that need to use it. It’s perfectly safe.

“There is a real fear that people are going to sit on something that will get worse and by the time they come to us it is much more of an effort in terms of time, money and the patient’s health. The sicker people get the harder it is to make them better again.”

Annmarie Horgle became the first Covid-19 intensive care patient to be discharged on April 23.

As of 5pm on Saturday, 129 patients had died at the Homerton after testing positive for coronavirus.