Organisers of the Cheltenham Festival have insisted the event will go ahead despite a case of coronavirus being confirmed in the Gloucestershire town.
With four days of racing at Cheltenham Racecourse set to begin tomorrow, bosses have confirmed the event will "continue as usual" amid coronavirus fears.
The number of COVID-19 cases across the country continues to rise dramatically, with one confirmed case in Bristol and three in Gloucestershire as of Sunday (March 8).
One person from Cheltenham was confirmed yesterday as the third case in the county by the Chief Medical Officer, Gloucestershire Live reports.
They are currently receiving all necessary support and advice from Public Health England (PHE), which is also contacting people who may have had close contact with the confirmed case.
The outbreak has caused a number of sprting to be cancelled or postponed including Ireland's Six Nations clash with Italy.
However, this doesn't look to be the case for the Cheltenham Festival, with thousands of people from across the globe still expected to arrive in the town this week.
A Cheltenham Racecourse spokesman said: “We look forward to staging The Festival presented by Magners at Cheltenham next week. We welcome the government's guidance that the business of the country should continue as usual, while ensuring we adhere to the latest public health advice.
"We have increased the number of wash basins and toilet facilities on site, we will make hand sanitiser readily available and increase the number of paper towels for hand drying.
"We have also increased staff numbers to ensure that soap and drying facilities are constantly available."
Racegoers have been advised to follow public health advice and practice good hygiene at the event.
The spokesman for Cheltenham Racecourse continued: "At Cheltenham Racecourse the safety and welfare of racegoers and participants is paramount.
"As part of our responsibilities towards racegoers and participants, we have put the following in place:
- Pre-event communication advising all customers to follow official government public health advice, which can be found here
- Additional toilets and handwashing facilities
- Additional staff will operate in all toilet areas to ensure that soap and drying facilities are constantly available
- Antibacterial hand gel will be made available and additional dedicated hand sanitizer locations can be found here .
- Posters around the racecourse as a reminder of public health advice, which includes washing your hands regularly with soap and hot water, or using antibacterial gel.
"Cheltenham Racecourse will continue to follow advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Public Health England, as well as that of local government."
