Covid: 'Urgent' call to shut Reading quarantine hotel after outbreak
- Published
More than 44 positive cases have been identified at Pental Hotel in Oxford Road, Reading
A council has called on the government to shut a quarantine hotel in Reading after a Covid-19 outbreak.
Reading council said Penta Hotel in Oxford Road needed to "urgently close" after it was linked to a "significant" number of positive cases.
It added it was "unconvinced" the outbreak was under control or that robust safety measures were in place.
The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) has been approached for comment.
A total of 44 positive cases of Covid-19 have been identified among residents and staff at the DHSC-run quarantine facility, which opened on 29 April.
Reading Borough Council said it was notified of the first outbreak on 9 May.
It added the majority of the positive cases had been identified as the Delta variant, first identified in India, by Public Health England (PHE).
"Positive cases have spread between guests, and hotel and security staff," the authority said.
'No confidence'
It added it believed at least three cases in the community had been directly linked to the hotel's outbreak, and said the spread "could have been avoided had the correct safety procedures been in place from when the hotel first opened".
Council leader Jason Brock said: "The council is clear that having seen the DHSC's quarantine hotel in operation over a number of weeks, it does not have confidence that robust enough safety measures have been in place and that it needs to be shut down.
"This is despite the council's own regulatory services team visiting the facility and making a number of recommendations, both soon after the council was informed of the first outbreak at the hotel, and more recently."
The authority added that despite a "multi-agency effort to try to improve control measures", including its most recent visit on Monday, it "remains unconvinced that the hotel outbreak is fully under control and that robust safety measures are in place in the hotel".
Four areas in Reading, including the area where the hotel is, are part of a surge testing operation.
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