Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
PANIC SETS IN
CORONAVIRUS: FALLOUT AS OUTBREAK HITS KENT
People across the district are bracing themselves for a coronavirus epidemic following the first confirmed case in Kent this week.
Shelves have been cleared of masks and hand gels, pupils have been isolated and a Canterbury theatre show was even cancelled after the diagnosis of an NHS worker was confirmed on Monday. Where they live has not been made public, but links to the district and surrounding areas have emerged. Pupils related to the patient have self-isolated from Faversham’s Queen Elizabeth’s School, as has a relative at Canterbury Academy, who is described as a “member of the school community”.
The Gulbenkian theatre was forced to cancel a production of The Marxist in Heaven at the city venue on Monday night because the confirmed case was a “close contact” of young cast members, who underwent tests. Elsewhere, a school tutor was forced to axe classes in Herne Bay and Whitstable because of links to the patient, who works out of NHS offices at Maidstone Studios and has recently returned from Italy. News of the confirmed Kent case has seen panic set in across the district.
Shelves at Boots and Superdrug stores in Canterbury were emptied of hand sanitiser gels on Tuesday, with staff forced to ration sales after stocks were replenished. Meanwhile, workers at B&Q in Sturry Road have told how demand for protective masks has been “crazy”.
‘Likely, not definite, we will move on to onward transmission and an epidemic here’
While just one coronavirus case has so far been confirmed in Kent, the number across the UK had risen to 85 as the Gazette went to press yesterday. But the virus – which originated in China and has claimed more than 3,000 lives globally - is not expected to reach its peak until May and June.
Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, said coronavirus was likely to be spreading undetected in the UK already, with health officials on the brink of moving into the phase of “delaying” rather than trying to “con
tain” transmission.
Prof Whitty, who is helping to lead the government’s response, said it was “likely, not definite, that we will move on to onward transmission and an epidemic here in the UK”.
The government is trying to calm fears by reassuring the public the UK is “well prepared” to contain the deadly virus. Numbers are expected to significantly rise over the coming weeks, with worst-case scenario plans indicating 80% of the population could become infected.
Isolation pods to keep suspected patients away from others have been set up at the William Harvey Hospital in Ashford and QEQM Hospital in Margate.
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