Brits trapped in coronavirus-hit Tenerife hotel as Matt Hancock urges UK to prepare for outbreak

British holidaymakers told today of being trapped in a coronavirus-hit hotel in Tenerife.

They spoke of their ordeal as Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged millions of people in the UK to join the battle to stop the infection becoming “big” here.

Security forces were reportedly stopping hundreds of guests leaving the four-star H10 Costa Adeje Palace in Tenerife.

The lockdown at the hotel in the south-west of the island is believed to have been ordered by health chiefs after a doctor, who had been staying there with his wife, tested positive yesterday. 

One guest posted an image on Facebook of a note put under the door of their room saying: “We regret to inform you that for health reasons, the hotel has been closed down. Until the sanitary authorities warn, you must remain in your rooms.” 

Another guest, Christopher Betts, told Reuters: “We can see from the window there are security officers outside the hotel and about 50 hotel employees.”

A notice on the chained and padlocked back gate of the hotel, which opens onto a beach promenade where a police van was parked, read in Spanish: “Entrance forbidden to people not authorised.”

Some guests had been put up at the hotel by tour operators after becoming stranded by a sandstorm which enveloped the island earlier this week. 

H10 Hotels said in a statement: “Following the report of a possible coronavirus case detected in a customer from Italy, staying at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace, H10 Hotels has implemented all health and operational recommendations from the health authorities to ensure the safety and wellbeing of customers and employees.”

The infected doctor is reportedly from Lombardy in northern Italy, where nearly a dozen towns are in quarantine. Seven people have died in Italy and more than 200 cases have been confirmed.

The medic is understood to have been transferred to an isolation unit at the University Hospital Nuestra Señora de Candelaria in the port of Santa Cruz on the island and was due to have a second test. Spanish media reported that up to 1,000 guests were being quarantined in the hotel and that authorities were carrying out tests in the resort of Adeje.

Tui and Jet2holidays use the hotel. A spokeswoman for Tui UK said: “All guests have been asked to remain in their rooms and are being looked after by the hotel.”

A spokesman for Jet2 said: “Under the advice of the regional and the Spanish government authorities, the hotel has been placed under quarantine. The health and safety of our customers is our absolute priority.”

Global health chiefs believe the Covid-19 outbreak has peaked in China but are concerned by the number of new cases in other countries.

Mr Hancock issued an urgent appeal for the public to follow new self-isolation advice if returning from northern Italy, parts of South Korea and Iran, and engage in an unprecedented campaign of hand-washing. 

“Every single person can do something to try to help this country avoid this virus becoming big and that is to wash your hands. If you sneeze to make sure you cover it up, catch it, kill it and bin it,” he stressed before updating the Cabinet.

He dismissed calls for a ban on flights from countries hardest hit by Covid-19, describing such restrictions as a “Maginot Line”, referring to the huge French fortifications which failed to stop the German Second World War invasion.

Mr Hancock told ITV’s This Morning that it would be “effectively impossible” to stop an outbreak here if there is a global pandemic and that the NHS was preparing for a worst-case scenario.

He added that new powers would allow for people coming into the country to be detained in quarantine if they are suspected of having Covid-19; that units were being put outside every A&E so people can be tested without going into emergency departments; and that more beds were available, including for patients with respiratory problems

Health chiefs were preparing to distribute thousands of home test kits in the event of cases spiralling to avoid the infection being passed on in hospitals. Scientists believe swift quarantine action, rather than trying to rely on travel restrictions, is key to containing the virus.

The Government’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty issued updated advice this morning which states:

• Travellers who have returned from northern Italy (defined by a line above, and not including, Pisa, Florence and Rimini), Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar since February 19 and develop flu-like symptoms, however mild, should stay indoors at home and avoid contact with other people immediately and call NHS 111.
• If you have returned since February 19 from Iran, areas of northern Italy in “lockdown” or “special care zones” in South Korea or China’s Hubei province (in the past 14 days), you should call 111 and stay indoors and avoid contact with others even if you do not have symptoms.
• Anyone who has travelled from mainland China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia or Macau in the past 14 days and is experiencing cough or fever or shortness of breath, should stay indoors and call 111, even if symptoms are mild.

Mr Hancock said the Government was not aware of any Britons who were in the quarantined areas of northern Italy, but he urged anyone there to make contact with the embassy in Rome.

In total China has now recorded 77,658 cases and 2,663 deaths.