On an average weekday afternoon high streets across the county are filled with bustling crowds of shoppers holding carrier bags brimming with clothes and groceries. The thoroughfares whir with activity as the chatter of voices and pounding footsteps reverberate through the air.

But these are not normal times. Since Boris Johnson placed the country under lockdown, once-popular shopping districts across Kent have been silenced as residents opt instead to stay indoors.

Most worrying is the conspicuous absence of rough sleepers. Along Rochester High Street and through the centre of Canterbury, the doorways that used to be occupied with sleeping bags and blankets are now empty.

“They’re frightened,” said Emma McCrudden, an outreach worker at Canterbury’s Catching Lives centre. “A lot of them are now living in woodland, parks, and are tucked behind derelict buildings.

“They’ve been threatened because they’ve been accused of spreading the virus. I’ve had four reports in the last two or three days that they’ve been called scum and told they need to go somewhere else.

“I had a guy, who’s quite a hardy soul, say to me, ‘there haven’t been many occasions in my life where I’ve been frightened, but this time I was, because I don’t know if there are cameras watching, if the police will come if I get assaulted - and there aren’t any members of public around to help’.”

Canterbury City Council announced yesterday that it has struck a deal - which will cost the authority £163,000 - with Travelodge to provide up to 57 rooms for homeless people and rough sleepers during the coronavirus pandemic.

It is working with charity Catching Lives, which continues to provide breakfasts and lunches to the homeless from its Station Road East base. Yesterday morning - before news of the Travelodge deal was released - queues formed outside the building for hot drinks and helpings of beans on toast. Prior to collecting their meals from a hatch, they lathered their hands with sanitiser offered to them by an outstretched arm from the kitchen.

Among them was a man – who called himself Tom – wearing a dark-green balaclava across his face and a pair of blue, translucent gloves. Speaking through his makeshift mask, the 32-year-old said he and his partner were no longer living in the centre of the city.

“We only come here because we need the food. We’re keeping ourselves to ourselves and staying away from people,” he explained. “We’re not taking any chances. People are dying from it; you’ve got to be worried.”

After collecting their breakfasts, many of them sat on kerbsides to wolf down the contents of their paper plates. Zuzana Stasova was perched on the pavement facing the Catching Lives centre on her own, having slept outside Wilko the night before.

“I’m trying to keep safe,” the 30-year-old said meekly. “Everyone is scared because it’s dangerous. It’s horrible because shops have closed and it’s freezing outside. My clothes have been stolen so many times. I don’t like what’s going on.”

Bearded and chewing loudly on mouthfuls of his food, Steven McGinty sat hunched over his plate. The 33-year-old, who recently served time in prison, only learned of the coronavirus virus through word of mouth. But he says the illness has made life more demanding for the city’s homeless.

“I still don’t exactly know what’s going on. I just know they’re trying to battle it,” he said matter-of-factly. “Everything’s got harder. A lot of the beggars are having a hard time trying to get money because there’s no one here.”

Meanwhile, in Rochester, Luke Kuklinski, who regularly sits in Strood Retail Park with his blankets, bags and donations of food and drink, was one of the few to remain in the centre of the town.

He has a Nordic Folkboat docked at Strood Pier and has been based in Medway for three years. Despite this, he struggles to find work because of his mental health, which he admits is a "complicated story". He says other beggars and rough-sleepers battling addiction are struggling.

"Hospitals are overwhelmed so they can’t get help there and they are worried,” he explained. “I think in general, there is a lack of awareness."

The government has written to every local authority across the UK urging them to ensure accommodation has been found for rough sleepers in a bid to tackle the spread of the coronavirus.

Terry Gore, the general manager of Catching Lives in Canterbury, welcomed the move, fearing vulnerable people not placed in suitable accommodation could die.

"Ideally, you need rooms with en-suite facilities so people don't have to go out and share facilities - that's why hotels are ideal," he said.

"The worst of this is still to come - people will die. In normal circumstances we will lose eight, 10, 12 of our clients every year; the virus could considerably increase that number."

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