Cheltenham Withstands Coronavirus Threat

In an echo of World War II Ministry of Information posters, the message from the British government as of Tuesday was very much 'keep calm and carry on' in light of growing concerns regarding the spread of coronavirus.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock, a racing fan whose West Suffolk constituency includes Newmarket, took to the airwaves on Tuesday morning and in an interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme said, “Today we are still in the contain phase of the plan which is about trying to stop its spread. There are some parts of the world where the spread has slowed down, which is good news, and it shows that effective action to contain the spread of this disease is possible.”

He added, “Our goal here is to have the minimum social and economic disruption, subject to keeping people safe. So what we are saying right now is that so long as you follow the advice from Public Health England, and you wash your hands more often, and for 20 seconds with soap and hot water, then you should carry on your normal business.”

Such advice will be music to the ears of the team at Cheltenham racecourse, which is preparing for an expected crowd of around 250,000 racegoers, primarily from Britain, Ireland and France, across the four days on the Cheltenham Festival, which begins on Tuesday. Despite French race meetings at Chantilly and Compiegne taking place this week without members of the public being allowed to attend, there is currently no threat that racing and other British sporting events will be conducted in a similar manner or cancelled altogether.

Questioned as to how close the government is to asking schools and offices to close and suspending sporting events, Hancock replied, “We think, based on the best scientific advice, that we are several weeks away from that point. Even in the reasonable worst-case scenario it will be a matter of weeks until this becomes widespread, then it will be a matter of months before we are through it.

“The message today is that right now we do not need to do many of the heavy things we are talking about in the plan but we are also setting out this plan as transparently as we possibly can so that people know the sorts of things that we might have to do in the future. I want people to be able to go about their ordinary lives as much as possible.”

With the number of confirmed cases of the virus in Britain rising from 39 to 51 as of Tuesday morning, Hancock's message was reiterated later in the day by Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the release of government's coronavirus action plan at a press conference in Downing Street, London.

He said, “Let me be absolutely clear that for the overwhelming majority of the people who contract the virus, this will be a mild disease from which they will speedily and fully recover, as we have already seen. I full understand public concern about the global spread of the virus and it is highly likely that we will see a growing number of UK cases.”

In keeping with government advice, there have been no changes to the racing programme announced at this stage. A committee comprising representatives from the British Horseracing Authority, Racecourse Association and the Horsemen's Group is keeping a watching brief on the situation.

A statement released by the group on Monday evening read, “The industry's steering group is coordinating the sharing of government advice with the sport's participants. The steering group remains in regular and ongoing contact with government and continues to consider a wide range of scenarios.”