Tenerife hotel remains on lockdown after four Italian guests test positive to coronavirus
Around 1,000 guests are under lock down in a hotel in southern Tenerife after an Italian doctor on holiday there became the third confirmed case of Covid-19 in Spain.
His wife also tested positive to the coronavirus, authorities confirmed on Tuesday afternoon. And the two people also on holiday with them were confirmed to have developed the virus on Tuesday evening.
Canary Island heath authorities activated emergency protocol on Monday evening after it was confirmed that the doctor who had been holidaying on the island since last week tested positive.
He visited a private health clinic on Monday afternoon reporting flu-like symptoms and staff immediately raised the alarm because he was from Lombardy in northern Italy, where the outbreak of coronavirus has seen more than 220 people test positive and caused seven deaths.
UPDATES:
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Woman in Barcelona tests positive to coronavirus, the first confirmed case on mainland Spain
-
Police at the door and staff in masks: Welcome to life under lockdown at Tenerife's 'coronavirus hotel'
Guests are isolated at the H10 Hotel Adeje Palace in the south of Tenerife. Photo: AFP
He is now being treated in Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria Hospital on the island along with his wife who was confirmed to have the coronavirus on Tuesday afternoon after initially testing negative when she was admitted with her husband.
The regional president of the Canary Islands confirmed the news in a tweet late on Monday stating: “In the afternoon / evening protocol was activated over suspected coronavirus in an Italian citizen in the south of Tenerife. Initial tests carried out in the Canary Islands proved positive: tomorrow they will be done again in Madrid. The patient is isolated and protocol activated."
En la tarde/noche de hoy se ha activado protocolo por supuesto coronavirus de ciudadano italiano en el sur de Tenerife. Realizadas las primeras pruebas en Canarias, el resultado es positivo: mañana se volverán a hacer en Madrid. Paciente aislado y activado protocolo.
— Ángel Víctor Torres (@avtorresp) February 24, 2020
The H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel has been quarantined. Photo: H10hotels.com
The Italian had been staying at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace which is following emergency measures and has placed all guests under quarantine, with no-one being allowed to enter or leave the hotel, which has been cordoned off by police, according to the Diario de Avisos, a Tenerife-based newspaper.
According to one guest at the hotel, a note was pushed under the door of each room advising guests to stay in their rooms.
It read: "Dear Guests, We regret to inform you that for healthy (sic) reasons, the hotel has been closed down. Until the sanitary authorities warn, you must remain in your rooms."
Here is the actual note for those interested to see it. pic.twitter.com/UCAetoDZNv
— Edward S Sanders (@CRckRestaurant) February 25, 2020
The hotel chain released a statement a statement on Tuesday lunchtime:
But authorities were careful to say that guests were not "under quarantine" at the 467 room hotel.
"Hundreds of hotel clients are being monitored for health reasons and the degree of supervision will be assessed during the day, but so far, we're not talking about quarantine," health authority spokeswoman Veronica Martin told AFP.
Footage from local TV news shows police surrounding the hotel while guests watch from hotel windows.
? Agentes de la Policía Nacional custodian el hotel H10 Costa Adeje Palace, situado en el sur de la isla de Tenerife, donde ha dado positivo por coronavirus el médico italiano que se encontraba de vacaciones > https://t.co/NQ6pL8xjiS pic.twitter.com/ltUJHdV8fm
— Informativos Telecinco (@informativost5) February 25, 2020
The all-inclusive hotel is located by the sea in the southwest of the island and has two outdoor pools as well as a heated indoor pool.
A dedicated phone line for coronavirus enquiries has been set up by Spain's health ministry with the number 900 112 061.
The British Embassy in Madrid confirmed that they were in contact with British guests in the hotel.
“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 seeking further information,” a spokesperson told The Local.
This is the third case of coronavirus confirmed in Spain but both other patients have now been given the all clear.
The first case confirmed in Spain was on the Canary Island of La Gomera where a German tested positive on arrival after coming in contact with a person back home in Germany who subsequently confirmed as suffering from the virus.
The tourist was given the all clear and discharged from hospital after two weeks and the five others in his group who were isolated in case of contagion did not develop the virus.
The other confirmed case was of a British man in Mallorca who had been among a group of skiers at a chalet in France infected by a businessman who had caught the virus on a trip to Singapore.
The man, a father of two was isolated at Palma's Son Espases hospital but discharged last week.
A group of 21 Spaniards who were caught in the Chinese city of Wuhan, at the epicenter of the Covid-19 epidemic, had been flown home on January 31st and spent 14 days quarantined at a Madrid military hospital but have since also been discharged.
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His wife also tested positive to the coronavirus, authorities confirmed on Tuesday afternoon. And the two people also on holiday with them were confirmed to have developed the virus on Tuesday evening.
Canary Island heath authorities activated emergency protocol on Monday evening after it was confirmed that the doctor who had been holidaying on the island since last week tested positive.
He visited a private health clinic on Monday afternoon reporting flu-like symptoms and staff immediately raised the alarm because he was from Lombardy in northern Italy, where the outbreak of coronavirus has seen more than 220 people test positive and caused seven deaths.
UPDATES:
- Woman in Barcelona tests positive to coronavirus, the first confirmed case on mainland Spain
- Police at the door and staff in masks: Welcome to life under lockdown at Tenerife's 'coronavirus hotel'
Guests are isolated at the H10 Hotel Adeje Palace in the south of Tenerife. Photo: AFP
He is now being treated in Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria Hospital on the island along with his wife who was confirmed to have the coronavirus on Tuesday afternoon after initially testing negative when she was admitted with her husband.
The regional president of the Canary Islands confirmed the news in a tweet late on Monday stating: “In the afternoon / evening protocol was activated over suspected coronavirus in an Italian citizen in the south of Tenerife. Initial tests carried out in the Canary Islands proved positive: tomorrow they will be done again in Madrid. The patient is isolated and protocol activated."
En la tarde/noche de hoy se ha activado protocolo por supuesto coronavirus de ciudadano italiano en el sur de Tenerife. Realizadas las primeras pruebas en Canarias, el resultado es positivo: mañana se volverán a hacer en Madrid. Paciente aislado y activado protocolo.
— Ángel Víctor Torres (@avtorresp) February 24, 2020
The H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel has been quarantined. Photo: H10hotels.com
The Italian had been staying at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace which is following emergency measures and has placed all guests under quarantine, with no-one being allowed to enter or leave the hotel, which has been cordoned off by police, according to the Diario de Avisos, a Tenerife-based newspaper.
According to one guest at the hotel, a note was pushed under the door of each room advising guests to stay in their rooms.
It read: "Dear Guests, We regret to inform you that for healthy (sic) reasons, the hotel has been closed down. Until the sanitary authorities warn, you must remain in your rooms."
Here is the actual note for those interested to see it. pic.twitter.com/UCAetoDZNv
— Edward S Sanders (@CRckRestaurant) February 25, 2020
The hotel chain released a statement a statement on Tuesday lunchtime:
But authorities were careful to say that guests were not "under quarantine" at the 467 room hotel.
"Hundreds of hotel clients are being monitored for health reasons and the degree of supervision will be assessed during the day, but so far, we're not talking about quarantine," health authority spokeswoman Veronica Martin told AFP.
Footage from local TV news shows police surrounding the hotel while guests watch from hotel windows.
? Agentes de la Policía Nacional custodian el hotel H10 Costa Adeje Palace, situado en el sur de la isla de Tenerife, donde ha dado positivo por coronavirus el médico italiano que se encontraba de vacaciones > https://t.co/NQ6pL8xjiS pic.twitter.com/ltUJHdV8fm
— Informativos Telecinco (@informativost5) February 25, 2020
The all-inclusive hotel is located by the sea in the southwest of the island and has two outdoor pools as well as a heated indoor pool.
A dedicated phone line for coronavirus enquiries has been set up by Spain's health ministry with the number 900 112 061.
The British Embassy in Madrid confirmed that they were in contact with British guests in the hotel.
“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 seeking further information,” a spokesperson told The Local.
This is the third case of coronavirus confirmed in Spain but both other patients have now been given the all clear.
The first case confirmed in Spain was on the Canary Island of La Gomera where a German tested positive on arrival after coming in contact with a person back home in Germany who subsequently confirmed as suffering from the virus.
The tourist was given the all clear and discharged from hospital after two weeks and the five others in his group who were isolated in case of contagion did not develop the virus.
The other confirmed case was of a British man in Mallorca who had been among a group of skiers at a chalet in France infected by a businessman who had caught the virus on a trip to Singapore.
The man, a father of two was isolated at Palma's Son Espases hospital but discharged last week.
A group of 21 Spaniards who were caught in the Chinese city of Wuhan, at the epicenter of the Covid-19 epidemic, had been flown home on January 31st and spent 14 days quarantined at a Madrid military hospital but have since also been discharged.
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