A number of hospitals in the UK's National Health Service have been targeted by a large cyber attack. 

It appears that IT systems in hospitals across the country have been simultaneously hit by a bug. This has lead to a number of emergency patients being diverted. The NHS has confirmed the issue and says it will release more information soon. 

Here's the malware attack which appears to have hit NHS hospitals right across England today pic.twitter.com/zIAJ6wbAG5

— Lawrence Dunhill (@LawrenceDunhill) May 12, 2017

East and North Hertfordshire NHS trust, one of the those affected, said in a statement:

“Today, the trust has experienced a major IT problem, believed to be caused by a cyber attack. Immediately on discovery of the problem, the trust acted to protect its IT systems by shutting them down; it also meant that the trust’s telephone system is not able to accept incoming calls."