Coronavirus: Drinkers urged to self-isolate as 16 COVID-19 cases linked to pub

People who visited a pub in West Sussex earlier this month are being advised to self-isolate after it was linked to 16 coronavirus cases.

The Downsman in Crawley temporarily closed last Sunday as two members of staff tested positive for COVID-19.

Crawley Borough Council is now urging anybody who was in the premises between 9 and 18 July (excluding 16 July) to self-isolate for 14 days from the date of their last visit.

Contact tracing of staff and customers began after the outbreak was reported in recent days, the council said.

A statement on its website said: "We were notified of an outbreak of COVID-19 at The Downsman pub in Crawley earlier this week and since then Public Health England has been organising contact tracing of staff and customers.

"There are 16 confirmed cases of coronavirus with a link to the pub and while this is a relatively small number and may not be the definite source of infection for all these cases, we are asking people to take action to ensure the virus does not spread further."

It added: "If you have symptoms of coronavirus, you must self-isolate and get tested."

The Downsman pub said on Facebook on 19 July: "We have taken the decision to temporarily close The Downsman after two members of our team tested positive for COVID-19 this afternoon.

"The staff members took tests as a precaution despite showing little to no signs of symptoms, and have not been on the premises since early last week and are now self-isolating.

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"We have been in contact with Public Health England to make them aware of the situation and as a result we have chosen to close briefly to carry out a further deep clean of the pub as a precaution for the safety of our customers."

It went on: "We expect to be back open again very soon once we are assured that it is safe to do so."

Pubs across England welcomed drinkers back in July more than three months after coronavirus closed down the hospitality sector.

But a number of them have had to close again after cases of COVID-19 were detected.