Club Chemistry 'won't open until people are safe' - owner

The owner of a nightclub linked to the centre of a deadly meningitis outbreak in Kent says it "will not open until this is under control" after two members of staff were hospitalised.

Club Chemistry has been linked to the outbreak of meningitis in Canterbury which has now seen 27 cases either suspected or confirmed, including two people who have died.

Louise Jones-Roberts, who owns the club, said there was "a lot of fear and anxiety" among people in the city.

Three cheerleaders from the University of Kent are within the group of people in hospital, a member of the society has said.

Jones-Roberts said: "As a mother, any time there's a rash you get the glass out - it's ingrained in our consciousness.

"People are frightened. There's a lot of fear and anxiety.

"We are not prepared to open until we know this is under control and people are safe."

Jones-Roberts said the two staff members who had contracted the disease remained in hospital but were stable, and expected to be released in the coming days.

Following Health Secretary Wes Streeting's announcement that vaccine eligibilty would be widened to include anyone who attended Club Chemistry from 5 March onwards, she added that she was "really pleased".

The UK Health and Security Agency (UKHSA) is continuing to urge anyone who visited Club Chemistry from 5-7 March, as well as University of Kent students, to receive preventative antibiotics.

Olivia Parkins, 18, part of the University of Kent cheerleading society, said three members of the society had the disease.

She said: "I know quite a lot of people who are in hospital with it."

The UKHSA added there had been no more deaths after two people, a 21-year-old university student and Juliette, a sixth former at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Faversham, were confirmed to have died as a result of meningitis.

The strain linked to the outbreak has been meningitis B.

Elsewhere in Canterbury city centre, businesses said they had seen a marked downturn in trade since the outbreak.

Sandy de Rougemont, manager of the House of Agnes hotel, said they had been fully booked but had "lost a third of them this week".

She added: "People are panicking and ringing up to cancel their rooms due to the outbreak.

"There's a knock-on effect as many other businesses are suffering, as if people aren't staying they aren't visiting other hospitality outlets."

Sophie Treasden, who runs The Refectory Kitchen, said: "We're taking about half of what we usually do when the weather improves. We still see some regular customers but there have been very few tourists from London and France.

"As a result we are prepping less food so I've had to stand down one of our chefs and a front of house member of staff. Hopefully business will pick up soon."

Alice Antosen, who works in a pharmacy in Canterbury, added: "There's definitely fewer people about and as a result strangely you are seeing a lot more teenagers hanging about."

A UKHSA spokesperson confirmed that, as of 17:00 GMT on Wednesday, 15 cases of meningitis had been confirmed with a further 12 under investigation, taking the total to 27 cases.

Students receiving the vaccine have claimed that health officials were too slow to raise the alarm about the outbreak.

Paris Summers, 22, from Twickenham, said she felt students "could have found out a lot sooner", while Aarohi Gupta, 21, an economics student from High Wycombe, added: "It was very scary, very worrying. Obviously, we didn't really know what to do."

Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, a deputy director at the UKHSA, said her teams worked rapidly and tirelessly over the weekend and continued to do so.

The UKHSA previously issued an urgent public health alert, asking health professionals across the country to look out for symptoms of meningitis.

A vaccination programme is aiming to immunise around 5,000 students at the University of Kent's Canterbury campus against meningitis B.

When asked whether the outbreak had been contained, Dr Anjan Ghosh, of Kent County Council, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme they were "not in a position yet to say that definitively".

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