UK's Captain Tom Moore visited by family in hospital

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Captain Tom Moore, the centenarian who became a national hero with his record-breaking fundraising exploits, has been visited by members of his family in hospital as he battles a COVID-19 infection.

Moore, who raised more than 30 million pounds ($41 million) for health service workers by walking 100 lengths of his garden during last year's lockdown, was admitted to Bedford hospital after testing positive for the virus on Sunday.

News that he was in hospital prompted messages of support from well-wishers in Britain and beyond, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the British army, the England soccer team and the head of the World Health Organization.

Bedford hospital said in a statement on Monday that members of Moore's family were visiting him, and asked the media to respect their privacy.

The World War Two veteran caught the public's imagination in April, just before his 100th birthday, when he was filmed carrying out his fundraising mission with the help of a walking frame in his garden in the village of Marston Moretaine, 80kms (50 miles) north of London.

He hoped to raise 1,000 pounds. Instead, he raised more than 32 million pounds for the National Health Service, broke two Guinness world records, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth, scored a No. 1 single, wrote an autobiography and helped set up a charity.

Earlier, some people on Twitter criticised Moore for taking a trip to Barbados with his family in December during the coronavirus pandemic.

Asked about the online criticism, his press secretary Allegra Stratton told reporters it was "absolutely appalling".

"The prime minister is thinking of Captain Tom very, very frequently at the moment, and his family, and is deeply wishing, as the whole country is, that Captain Tom makes as swift a recovery as possible," she added.

(Reporting by Kate Holton and Elizabeth Piper; editing by Michael Holden)