A senior hotel insider claims that health bosses knew water at the Marriott Castle Harbour Hotel was contaminated at the beginning of last week -- but agreed to suggest that a virus was the probable cause of the epidemic that struck down hundreds of guests.

The hotel insider, who does not wish to be named, claims that a sewage line was leaking into the hotel's water tank two weeks ago. But when health officials checked the hotel on Friday, February 13 the Chief Medical Officer Dr. John Cann insisted that water was not responsible for making people sick.

The insider claims that, once it was discovered that water at the hotel was contaminated on the following Monday, Dr. Cann agreed to suggest that an untraceable airborne virus caused the illness.

The explanation would provide an escape route for the hotel faced with a massive compensation claim and also clear red-faced health officials who gave the hotel a clean bill of health just before the illness struck.

Last Tuesday Dr. Cann emphatically denied that the hotel was in any way at fault for the outbreak -- even though he was aware that traces of the killer E. coli bacteria had been found in the water supply the day before.

"We don't have a good reason to suggest that the hotel has done something here that has contributed to the spread of this disease,'' he said.

"We have not suggested that the entire water supply was contaminated by this virus. The hotel was just unlucky.'' Last night acting Health Minister Quinton Edness implied that contaminated water was now the prime suspect for the epidemic. And the Government has now brought in specialists from the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre to investigate the incident.

Although he admitted that health procedures would have to be looked into, Mr.

Edness said he did not believe officers had attempted to cover up their initial wrong diagnosis.

"I don't think there has been a cover up,'' he said.

"At all times health officers were working to preserve public health and if there are any weaknesses in the process we will take steps.

"We are not looking to chop anybody's head off and there will be no resignations or dismissals.

"We wish to insure that all public water tanks in schools and hotels and other public buildings be tested on a regular basis. I have also asked for the development of a contingency plan to draw up protocols and procedures.

"If the water has been affected by some sewage pipe we have to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

"So far no specific organisms have been identified and no definitive results are available. We will have to wait and see what exactly comes back from analysis.''