British tourists are trapped in a quarantined hotel in Tenerife today with police patrolling the complex after an Italian visitor tested positive for coronavirus.
Around 1,000 guests are on lockdown at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace with the resort ‘closed down’ over virus fears.
One couple, David Hoon and Pamela Scott, say they fear that ‘we stand more chance of catching the coronavirus’ during the hotel lockdown.
Others were locked out of the building as hotel staff declared the resort had been ‘closed down’ over virus fears.
Another British guest, Christopher Betts, said holidaymakers had received ‘no information whatsoever’.
The case will spark further fears over the spiralling virus outbreak coming from Italy, amid growing calls for EU chiefs to suspend the Schengen free travel rules.
One couple, David Hoon and Pamela Scott, say they fear that ‘we stand more chance of catching the coronavirus’ during the hotel lockdown
People outside a Tenerife hotel today after it was sealed off amid fears of a coronavirus outbreak in Spain, after an Italian visitor tested positive yesterday
Around 1,000 guests have now been quarantined inside the hotel with security officers patrolling the complex
A letter from Tenerife hotel staff telling guests including British tourists to stay in their rooms after an Italian visitor tested positive for coronavirus
The Italian tourist was tested for the killer virus after going to a private clinic in Adeje in the south of Tenerife after falling ill.
The visitor, who comes from Italy’s Lombardy region where several people have died, had reportedly been staying at the hotel for seven days with his wife.
British tourist Mr Betts said guests had been allowed to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant this morning but were otherwise told to stay in their rooms.
‘We can see from the window there are security officers outside the hotel and about 50 hotel employees,’ he said.
The beach area at the back of the hotel has also been cordoned off, with some police officers outside the complex wearing face masks.
Local and national police were guarding the main road entrance to the hotel which was sealed off by barriers.
A letter from hotel staff tells guests that the hotel has been ‘closed down’ for health reasons and that tourists must ‘remain in their rooms’ until told otherwise.
Another British tourist said: ‘All we have been told is to stay in our rooms.’
Canary Islands president Angel Victor Torres confirmed yesterday: ‘This afternoon the coronavirus protocol has been activated for an Italian tourist in the south of Tenerife.
‘The result from the first test carried out in the Canaries is positive. Tomorrow new tests will take place in Madrid. The patient has been quarantined.’
A spokesman for the regional health authority added: ‘The protocol states that a second test must take place at the National Microbiology Centre at the Carlos III Health Institute in Madrid.
‘The patient has been quarantined and is under the care of health workers.’
‘We are checking people who had contact with the patient including the people in the hotel,’ a spokeswoman for Canary Island’s health department.
An Italian holidaymaker was found to be infected yesterday after feeling unwell during his stay at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace (file photo) in Tenerife
Around 1,000 guests have now been quarantined inside the hotel (file photo), reports say, with police reportedly surrounding the complex which is popular with Britons
Two people arrive at the University Hospital of the Nuestra Senora de Candelaria in Tenerife where an Italian national has been isolated after testing positive for the coronavirus
A receptionist at the hotel in Tenerife this morning claimed there were ‘no problems’, saying: ‘Everything is under control. We are working normally here.’
A spokesman at H10 Hotels headquarters in Barcelona said: ‘Due to the presence of a possible case of coronavirus detected in a guest from Italy who has been staying at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace Hotel, H10 Hotels is cooperating closely with the health authorities and has activated all the health and operational measures recommended by them to guarantee the security of its guests and employees.
‘It is also making sure guests and employees receive all the assistance and care they need.’
The Italian’s age has not been made public. It is Spain’s third coronavirus case.
Previously, a British man tested positive in Mallorca, where he lives, but did not show any symptoms and was later given the all-clear.
His wife and two daughters were tested negative.
Separately, a German tourist who tested positive in La Gomera was kept in isolation for two weeks before being given the all-clear.
Five of his companions also had to be kept in quarantine, despite testing negative. All have now returned to Germany.
Passengers queue at an airport in Tenerife, where an Italian holidaymaker has tested positive for the virus
Seven deaths and 229 infections in Italy have fanned panic in neighbouring countries and sparked a clamour for governments to impose border checks.
The European Union is under mounting pressure to suspend the passport-free Schengen travel zone to stop coronavirus spreading across the continent.
But despite warning of a ‘moderate to high risk’ of more clusters sprouting up on European soil, Brussels yesterday confirmed it would not be freezing Schengen arrangements ‘for the moment’.
The 26 Schengen states – including Italy – have abolished border controls, meaning people can pass seamlessly from country to country.
Italy’s northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto have suffered the brunt of the nation’s outbreak, and have been added to a global list with China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and South Korea as coronavirus hotbeds.
Some 55,000 residents have been placed under lockdown, with internal police checkpoints, schools shut and public events axed, including the popular Venice carnival.
The coronavirus cases in Italy – the first major outbreak in Europe – have seen other countries take drastic action to leap on suspected patients.
In France yesterday, an unwell coach driver sparked panic at a Lyon bus station after arriving with virus symptoms from Italy.
French police impounded the FlixBus coach after it arrived from Milan with the driver reportedly suffering a bad cough and he was rushed to quarantine.
Fearing the infection could have breached the border, officials in Paris have ordered French citizens returning from Lombardy and Veneto to self-isolate.
A map showing the latest numbers of coronavirus cases around the world. Cases have surged in South Korea, Italy and Iran in recent days
In Mauritius yesterday, dozens of airline passengers from Lombardy and Veneto who had just landed were told to return home or face quarantine.
The outbreak rocked Italy’s financial markets and by close saw 5.4 per cent wiped off the country’s stock exchange.
Most of the cases in Italy can be traced back to a 38-year-old man in the town of Codogno whom authorities have called ‘patient one’.
Investigators are reconstructing minute by minute the man’s movements over the past few weeks – where he slept, ate, walked – in a bid to trace everyone he could have come into contact with.
‘We had the most unfortunate situation possible; the outbreak of an epidemic in a hospital,’ infectious disease expert Massimo Galli told the Corriere della Sera daily.
‘Unfortunately, in these cases, a hospital can turn into a frightening amplifier of contagion,’ he said..
The 38-year old had not travelled to China and doctors failed to treat him with the necessary precautions.
The man initially believed to have given him the virus after returning from Shanghai later tested negative. ‘We still do not know who brought the coronavirus to Codogno,’ Galli said.