Hotel closed as bug hits 100
More than 450 guests have been sent home from a holiday hotel after a major outbreak of gastroenteritis.
Managers of the Bembridge Coast hotel at Bembridge, Isle of Wight, decided to close it for five days this week after guests began falling ill last week. By the weekend, the number affected by the bug had reached 100.
The three-star, 234-bedroom hotel is the largest on the Isle of Wight, catering for up to 450 people. It was full at the time of the outbreak.
It is thought a guest from a coach party brought the illness into the hotel, which is owned by Warner Holidays.
"It appears someone travelled to the hotel while ill and passed on the virus on to other guests," Flinton said. "The virus has proved to be highly contagious."
Nigel Coward, Isle of Wight Council environmental health manager, said: "Closing the premises is the sure-fire way of breaking the cycle of the virus because it cannot survive outside the body for more than three days.
"The decision by the hotel to close is a correct and brave one."