After Britain's national health service, Scotland's health service faces a malware attack

A regional authority in Britain’s state-run health service was hit by a malware attack on Friday and warned people with non-emergency medical conditions to stay away from its hospitals.

[caption id=“attachment_3963991” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption]

NHS Lanarkshire said in a Facebook post it was investigating and working to resolve the issue.

“I would ask that patients do not attend our hospitals unless it is essential,” said acute division medical director Jane Burns. “Emergency care will still be provided for those who do require to be seen.”

In May, hospitals and doctors’ surgeries across Britain were forced to divert ambulances, turn away patients and cancel appointments after a **cyber attack** crippled some computer systems.

“As far as we know this has just affected NHS Lanarkshire. It is not the same malware as in May”, NHS Lanarkshire responded on Facebook to an inquiry from Reuters.

Lanarkshire is a region in the Lowlands of southern Scotland.

The **WannaCry ransomware** in May had brought the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK to its knees, **interfered** with the operation of factories, destroyed hospital records, interfered with Spain’s essential utilities and at last count, infected over 200,000 computers.

Meanwhile, 600 companies in Japan were infected and schools and government institutions in China were shut down by the attack. While damage to personal property is a real possibility, the real damage is being done to businesses and essential services.