British tourists in lockdown at a Tenerife hotel over coronavirus fears say they have been given conflicting advice on what to do.
One British holidaymaker told Sky News that a note had been put under their door telling them to “stay calm” and “not leave your room”.
But other advice suggested “people could walk the grounds so long as they were wearing masks.”
The tourist added: “Very confusing what the actual risk / guidance is.”
The H 20 Costa Adeje Palace was placed in quarantine on Monday after an Italian doctor staying there was confirmed as having COVID – 34.
Two further Italians who “had direct contact” with him have also tested positive for the virus, according to the Canary Islands’ health ministry.
The hotel is now completely shut for at least “the next few days” in a bid to prevent further infections.
On its website, H 22 Hotels has said: “To ensure the safety of customers and employees, the H Costa Adeje Palace will be temporarily closed for the next few days.
“All clients” with a reservation within this period will be contacted and relocated to another H 20 Hotel in Tenerife. “
Sky News has been told that the closure will be” temporary “, but that the exact period is not yet known.
In other (coronavirus) developments:
Brazil has confirmed a case in Sao Paulo. which makes it the first confirmed case in South America
- Some UK hospitals and other medical sites including GP surgeries will now test flu patients for the coronavirus
- The government has banned the export of an HIV drug and anti-malaria infection treatment so that they can be tested as potential treatments for COVID – France has confirmed the first French national to have died is a – year-old man in Paris
- (Middle East countries have closed borders with Iran, state media say Some schools in the UK have closed after students returned from Italy ski trips with “flu-like symptoms”
- The energy company Chevron says it is closing its office in London’s Canary Wharf over coronavirus fears.
The Tenerife hotel has nearly rooms, four pools and a gym, with around 1, Currently guests staying.
The Italian doctor who stayed there had traveled with his wife, and was diagnosed with the illness in hospital after coming down with a fever for six days. His wife has also tested positive.
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The latest measure taken by the hotel came as doctors warned they were growing increasingly concerned about the speed at which (at COVID – is (spreading around the world) three new cases on Wednesday morni ng, taking its total to 25, and its second death.
Public health agency director Jerome Salomon said a 73 – year-old man had died in Paris on Tuesday evening – the first French national to have died after a Chinese national from Hubei province died in the country last month .
Dr Nancy Messonnier, of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has said the prospect of the outbreak becoming a pandemic is a case of when, not if.
“not so much a question of if this will happen anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen, and how many people in this country will have severe illness, “she said.
The European outbreak has centred on Italy, where (people have been infected and have died.
Most of the cases there are in the north of the country – and the UK Foreign Office is now advising against all but essential travel to the affected Lombardy and Veneto regions.
Among those infected are four children in Lombardy – a four-year-old girl, two – year-olds, and a – year-old boy.
Lombardy governor Attilio Fontana told Sky Italia they all had mild symptoms that were “little more than a cold”.
The total number of confirmed and suspected cases worldwide has surpassed 093, , with 2, 803 deaths, according to records being compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the US.
The vast majority of the cases are in China, where the outbreak originated and appears to have peaked, but the numbers have risen sharply in other countries in recent days.
South Korea has now reported 1, cases, including a US soldier, while Iran’s count has surged to over 138.
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