An exclusive market town is at the centre of Britain’s coronavirus crisis as health officials hunt for the mystery ‘super-spreader’ who passed it to at least four people in Surrey’s stockbroker belt.
Haslemere, an affluent commuter community of 10,000 people nestled in the Surrey Hills, is at the epicentre of a major outbreak that has seen its GP surgery and pub closed with Sunday shoppers in its Waitrose now wearing face masks.
Homemade posters have also appeared in the town declaring: ‘Haslemere, twinned with Wuhan’ with one resident admitting on the town’s community Facebook page: ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t – but if I don’t laugh i’ll cry’.
But there is also growing anger and anxiety among locals about the lack of information from Public Health England about who is ill with one concerned resident saying in an online blast: ‘Just name the person – and those who’ve been in contact can come forward. Easy!’. Another critic who fears her daughter could have been in contact with a coronavirus patient said: ‘I do believe they should clarify the person in question’.
The town’s upmarket Waitrose store saw shoppers wearing masks over the weekend and witness Natalie Newman told SurreyLive: ‘I was surprised. I am just telling the kids: “Make sure you sanitise your hands”.’
In an ironic twist, Haslemere was chosen just two years ago as the setting for a BBC documentary titled ‘Contagion!’ looking at how a flu outbreak might spread across Britain.
Scientists monitored the movements of hundreds of ‘infected’ locals to work out how they might be able to stop a pandemic – and the war gaming exercise found it spread to 43 million people across the UK and led to the deaths of 900,000.
The town’s super-spreader is believed to have been a patient or friend of a GP at Haslemere Health Centre, who on Friday is believed to have become Britain’s first person to become infected inside the UK without travelling abroad to a hotspot such as Italy, Iran or China.
Haslemere is at the centre of the latest coronavirus outbreak in Britain – but some have teased that the affluent town should be ‘twinned with Wuhan’
Haslemere Health Centre in Surrey (pictured) is at the centre of the town’s coronavirus outbreak where four people have fallen ill but the source of the infection remains unknown
Shoppers in the Haslemere Waitrose have been wearing face masks as four people linked to the town fell ill
England’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, revealed three ‘close contacts’ of the GP, believed to be his family, had also contracted coronavirus.
Of the three inadvertently infected by the GP, one is from Surrey and two are from neighbouring West Sussex.
But Prof Whitty added it is not clear if the GP contracted the virus ‘directly or indirectly’ from somebody who had recently returned from a foreign trip.
Surrey’s so-called ‘patient zero’ remains untraced and may not even be aware at being a carrier if his or her symptoms were mild.
In Haslemere the health surgery has now reopened after being shut down for a deep clean.
But a mile away the Prince of Wales pub as a ‘precautionary measure’ after a drinker tested positive. The landlord said no staff had any symptoms.
Haslemere’s Camelsdale Primary School has told parents that family linked to the school will be in self-quarantine until Friday after spending time with one of the town’s confirmed cases last month.
But headtacher Sarah Palmer said the school, which has 215 pupils aged four to 11, would remain open after heeding the Health Secretary’s warning to UK schools to stay open.
Yesterday, rumours swirled around the wealthy town – where house prices cost on average of £500,000 – that the original spreader may be a commuter.
With trains taking just 52 minutes to London Waterloo, Haslemere is a convenient location for city workers and has one of the highest percentages of first-class rail season ticket holders in the UK.
Not all appeared worried about the outbreak – with several joking online they were more concerned about the ‘avocado and brioche shortages’ in local supermakets.
Others on community groups teased that Haslemere Health Centre – which was opened again after a ‘deep clean’ – suddenly had ‘loads of availability’.
The Prince of Wales pub as a ‘precautionary measure’ after a drinker tested positive
The landlords have said they are carrying out a full ‘deep clean’ in a reassuring message for customers outside
However, many older residents who are most at threat spoke of their concern over the potential outbreak in the town.
Francis Lipscomb, 85, said: ‘Where does it all end? My wife, my daughter and my son decided we wouldn’t go out. I rang 111 and they couldn’t really tell me anything.
‘I’m at risk if I were to catch it, and so is my wife because she’s the same age as me.’
James Ham, 74, said: ‘I didn’t even know anything until I got to the health centre and read the sign on the door. My wife couldn’t collect the prescription as she has really bad asthma, so I’ve come to pick it up.
‘I don’t think young people have much to worry about, but elderly people like me are vulnerable.’
Dennis Smart, an 85-year-old local man, said: ‘On Friday morning I came and rattled on the door [of the health centre] but I found it was closed.
‘I phoned up and they said it is closed, if you need anything urgent go to A&E in Guildford or phone the NHS on 111. It would have been useful if they had told me the pharmacy was open.
‘It is strange because about two weeks ago my wife came here and there was a sign on the door saying: ‘Coronavirus. Keep out’. My wife saw the notice so she turned around and walked away. I spoke to the staff about it when I visited yesterday and they had had no idea it was there.
‘It appeared to be a prankster. I do not know who it was. Someone’s got a warped sense of humour’.
Mr Smart was one of many visitors on Saturday who successfully collected their prescriptions unperturbed by the news of the coronavirus.
One local woman said: ‘My husband was telling me, ‘don’t go there, there is coronavirus’, but the health centre has been deep cleaned. It is probably the safest place in the country.’