Weston General Hospital could reopen in phases from next week.
The hospital closed to new admissions from May 25 after a spike in Covid-19 cases but health officials are now confident it did not spread to the community.
Trust chief executive Robert Woolley said six per cent of staff at the hospital have tested positive but many were asymptomatic and there could be lessons for the whole NHS.
Some 80 hospital workers are currently self-isolating or shielding.
Speaking to North Somerset Council scrutiny panel members on June 4, Mr Woolley, who heads the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston Trust, said: “I absolutely recognise the depth of concern in the community about the situation at Weston General.
“I want to keep reassuring families with loved ones in the hospital that we’re still giving them the best care.
“We’ve been retesting all the patients. There’s no evidence of in-hospital transmission.
“There appears to be no evidence of any significant transmission from the hospital to the community. That’s validation of the prompt action we took to contain the infection spike in the hospital.
“Approximately six per cent of all the staff we've tested are asymptomatic but have the infection. That's a very significant finding. It's significant for the BRI and all the hospitals in Bristol. It's of huge significance for the NHS.
“Repeat testing for staff they aren't unwittingly carrying the virus is important. All the staff that tested positive are self-isolating.
“I still plan to reopen services as soon as possible, when we have confidence it's safe to do so.
“The criteria won't surprise you. There shouldn't be any evidence of onward transmission inside the hospital, the hospital should be deep-cleaned, that we know we have enough staff, and that we can appropriately configure the wards so we're rigorous abvout social distancing.
“Subject to those conditions being met, we may be in a position to start reopening services next week. We're likely to reopen in a phased way.
“We have an incident investigation that will take some time to complete. No one has any evidence that one potential cause is any more likely than any other."
Councillor Mike Bell, the executive member for adult social care and health, said early communications from the trust were lacking and that gap was filled by speculation, leaks and disclosures from staff.
One report said 40 per cent of staff had tested positive for Covid-19 but Mr Woolley said the figure had been taken out of context and referred to a small sample of staff.
Bristol.Live quoted a whistleblower who claimed that staff from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds were disproportionately represented on Covid wards.
Asked to address the claims by Cllr Huw James, Mr Woolley said it was a “horrible allegation” and no complaint had been made within the trust.
Representing the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire clinical commissioning group, Colin Bradbury said it was confident in the trust's whistleblowing policy and that it takes any concerns raised extremely seriously.
Cllr James said the trust had failed to be open and honest in its initial communications and had behaved like “Fortress Europe”.
Mr Woolley rejected the claim but admitted the trust had initially to “scrambled” get messages out about the closure over the bank holiday, and had prioritised informing staff over the media.
He added: “If there’s any lack of communication, it’s because we’re so damn busy trying to manage the situation.”
Mr Woolley said any agency staff that had been working in the hospital and in a care have now been prevented from doing so.
Matt Lenny, the council's director for public health, said excluding the infection at Weston General, the number of cases in North Somerset is similar to the regional average.
Government asked schools to reopen for some year groups on June 1 but North Somerset Council recommended delaying by a week due to the high number of cases.
Mr Lenny said schools may now want to reopen from Monday, and the authority will support them to do so.
