Police investigation launched after woman 'who tested positive for Covid' visited Sunderland pub

A woman was “spoken to” by Northumbria Police as she visited a Sunderland pub after testing positive for coronavirus.
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Officers were told that a 20-year-old woman, who had tested positive for Covid-19, had entered the The Rabbit pub in Sunderland.

The incident happened on Saturday, September 12 at around 8pm.

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The woman involved should have been at home self-isolating and the incident led the venue, on the city’s High Street West, to voluntarily close for a deep clean.

Police are investigating the incident which happened on Saturday, September 12.Police are investigating the incident which happened on Saturday, September 12.
Police are investigating the incident which happened on Saturday, September 12.

The Rabbit’s bar manager Liam Duffield confirmed that the pub has been deep cleaned, with extra measures taken to ensure the safety of both staff and customers.

He also said the venue will reopen to the public as normal on Friday, September 18 after holding a private event for the University of Sunderland’s freshers week on Wednesday, September 16.

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Liam said: “Now that we've had time to have a deep clean, ensure everything's in place to best protect the staff and customers and then last night had the building specially disinfected just as an extra measure, we are now ready to reopen.

“We have a private event tonight (Wednesday) for freshers as we have been working with them on this for a while and then we will be back open to the public from 11.30am on Friday.”

A spokesperson for Northumbria Police confirmed in a statement to the Echo on Wednesday that the woman was spoken to by officers on Saturday evening.

She then returned home to continue self-isolating.

The spokesperson commented: “Shortly after 8pm on September 12, we were made aware that a woman who had tested positive for Covid had entered The Rabbit pub in Sunderland.

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“As a result The Rabbit voluntarily closed for deep cleaning and officers informed the local authority of the incident.

“The 20-year-old woman was spoken to by police and returned home to self-isolate. We will be working with Public Health and the incident is currently under investigation.”

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