STUCK IN EL
Coronavirus – Tenerife hotel cases DOUBLE overnight to 4 as hundreds of trapped Brits told they must stay for TWO WEEKS
THE number of people struck down with coronavirus at a packed Tenerife hotel doubled overnight.
Four guests from H10 Costa Adeje Palace are now in hospital after a doctor from Italy was confirmed with the deadly bug along with his wife and another two tested positive.
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It is understood the two latest cases, also thought to be Italians, were part of the group of ten holidaymakers the doctor and his wife, who also tested positive, travelled to the island with.
Local reports say that the group travelled with other tourists on a bus to the hotel but later visited a private medical centre after suffering with fever-like symptoms.
The four coronavirus patients are now being treated at a local hospital in Candelaria.
The doctor and his wife are from Italy's Lombardy region - where several people have already died after contracting coronavirus.
It is believed the couple had been at the hotel for seven days.
A spokesman for the regional health authority said: “We can confirm two more positives en Tenerife.
"They're members of the group of Italian nationals that travelled to the island together who were in direct contact with the first two cases."
News of the fresh cases came as hundreds of tourists were told they must remain in the hotel.
Around 400 tests are thought to have been carried out already while medical officials pay close attention to 37 people who had close contact with the couple.
Canary Islands President Angel Victor Torres said most guests will be "subject to active individual monitoring" and paved the way for a two-week quarantine period.
But the tourists who had no contact with the Italian doctor and his wife could leave today.
He said: "The others will have to be subject to active individual monitoring."
Hotel bosses added the venue will close until the middle of March to "guarantee the safety of guests and staff".
Domingo Nunez, head of Epidemiology of the Canary Islands Health Service, said: "Guests will have to stay in the hotel.
"Those who have symptoms will be evaluated and will stay in the hotel without leaving their rooms and depending on the results of the tests and whether they test positive or negative, a further decision would then be taken.
"If they tested positive they would be transferred to hospital."
He said people who had not been showing symptoms could move freely inside the hotel with facemasks.
PADLOCKS ON DOORS
A picture posted online by one of the hotel guests shows a chain and metal padlock around one of the doors.
Police are surrounding the building to make sure no one enters or leaves to control the virus' spread.
Staff have also been pictured wearing protective face masks - despite reportedly telling guests that no more are available.
The four-star hotel is on the south of the island and is extremely popular with British tourists at this time of the year.
Those staying at the hotel have now told of their terror after being ordered to stay in their rooms.
Callum Smith was on the island a few days ago and is worried he may have encountered the infected doctor.
He said: “That man could have been next to me in the pub. There’s no telling how many other people he could have infected.”
Hannah Green, 27, from Herts, said she is having a "holiday from hell" and is terrified for her one-year-old son.
I don't think we'll be allowed to leave. We don't want to be here
Brit tourist, Hannah Green
She said: "We woke up to a note under our door this morning saying that for health reasons not to leave our room.
"I called downstairs to reception as soon as I saw it and they wouldn't tell us anything.
"So I quickly got on my phone and googled and saw a man had tested positive for coronavirus so I basically assumed it was that.
"People are moving around the hotel but we're not. We're in our room with the baby. We're worried for the baby."
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Brit Chris Betts, from Leicestershire, says that the hotel appears normal after being told he would be held in quarantine following the confirmed case.
He said: "The hotel seems to be acting normally except that we cannot go out either front or back. Police cars are stationed front and back.
"The staff have been issued with face masks but we have been told there aren’t any for guests at this time.
"The staff are very very friendly. They’ve done all they can to help us. We’ve had breakfast normally."
Regional health authorities were yesterday seen arriving at the hotel wearing protective face masks to takes samples from staff and guests and assess the scale of the outbreak.
After staff informed guests that face masks had run out, local meat firm boss Ricardo Palacio stepped in and handed over 1,000 masks, 300 pairs of protective gloves and bottles of water to help holidaymakers.
Yesterday, staff at the hotel said they were “exhausted”, with many having worked through the night.
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The infected Italian tourist went to a local health centre on Monday afternoon after feeling unwell for several days.
He has now been quarantined at Nuestra Señora de Candelaria University Hospital in Tenerife’s capital Santa Cruz along with his partner, who has also tested positive for the killer bug.
A regional health authority source said: “The partner of the first patient affected has also tested positive in the initial tests carried out at Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria University Hospital.
“The condition of both patients is good at the moment.”
COVID 19 is ALREADY pandemic says virus expert Professor Jonathan Ball
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Travel firms Tui and Jet2holidays are among those who use the hotel for package holidays.
The Spanish island attracts large numbers of people at this time of year for the annual two-week-long Santa Cruz de Tenerife Carnival.
Both travel companies are finding alternative accommodation for passengers flying into the island.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "Our staff are offering advice and support to a number of British people in a hotel in Tenerife and their families.
"We are in close contact with the hotel management and the Spanish authorities, and are seeking further information."
A German holidaymaker was quarantined in hospital in the Canary Island of La Gomera after testing positive.
MOST READ IN NEWS
He has now been allowed home, as has a 46-year-old British expat in Majorca who was hospitalised after picking up the killer bug at the Alps ski resort visited by coronavirus super-spreader Steve Walsh.
The expat’s wife and daughters, aged seven and 10, and an eight-year-old boy who had close contact with the family, were also tested for the virus.
All tests on them came back negative.
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Blow for hol firms
CREEPING ever closer, coronavirus is now no longer just hitting distant shores but the Med beaches and Italian ski slopes we visit in our millions, says Sun Travel Editor Lisa Minot.
The outbreak in northern Italy comes when thousands return from the half-term ski week — passing through airports close to the villages and towns now on lockdown.
And with a thousand tourists confined to their rooms at a hotel in Tenerife, it could not be worse for our fragile travel industry.
Italy Coronavirus lockdown: Officials struggle to contain worst outbreak outside of mainland China
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