Holidaymakers who have been quarantined at a hotel in Tenerife have been told by an airline they must be tested for coronavirus or wait until next month to come home.
Jet2 has told guests at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace that they will not be flown home before 10 March unless they have tested negative for the virus.
A spokesperson for Jet2 said its responsibility to its “customers, our colleagues and the general public remains paramount”.
“We will not fly any customer who has stayed at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace during the quarantine, until this incubation period has passed or unless they have been explicitly tested for Covid-19 by a recognised authority and are confirmed as clear of the virus,” said the spokesperson. “We will continue to release more information as it becomes available.”
There are 168 Britons among the 700 quarantined in the Tenerife hotel after at least four Italian guests were diagnosed with coronavirus.
On Thursday, the Canary Islands minister of health said a group of 130 low-risk guests – including about 50 British nationals – would be able to leave because they had arrived on Monday and had not come into contact with the four Italians who tested positive.
Elsewhere the first cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Northern Ireland and Wales, with a further two people diagnosed in the UK.
Northern Ireland’s chief medical officer, Dr Michael McBride, said the patient had travelled from northern Italy via Dublin.
He told a press conference on Thursday night: “We have been planning for the first positive case in Northern Ireland and have made clear that it was a question of when, not if.”
He added the virus had the potential to become a “global pandemic” but there were “robust infection control measures in place”.
On Thursday, health officials confirmed two cases of the virus in England in people who had contracted it in northern Italy and Tenerife. On Friday England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, said two more patients in England had tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in England to 17 and the UK to 19.
Experts in infectious diseases said the two cases identified in the UK early on Thursday were not a cause for concern and that the measures of isolating confirmed cases and tracing potential contacts was working so far.
Experts have warned that schools could be closed and major sporting events, concerts and other public gatherings could be cancelled in an effort to contain the spread of the virus.
Whitty said the country should prepare to face disruption to many normal activities “for quite a long period of time, probably more than two months” and to pay a heavy “social cost” for efforts to thwart the virus.
The NHS may have to cancel planned operations during the peak of a major outbreak to free up beds and staff for patients with coronavirus, he said, adding that the service would find it “quite tricky” to deal with a huge increase in the number of cases.
The World Health Organization also warned that the outbreak had reached a “decisive point” and had “pandemic potential”.
UK ministers are finalising the government’s plan to respond to the increasing threat posed by coronavirus, which is expected to be published next week. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said: “There is a good chance that we can avoid a pandemic. That’s a potential outcome but not a definite outcome.”
Public Health England is due to launch a major public information campaign next week to educate people about how to minimise the risks of contracting or spreading the virus. Experts have repeatedly stressed that regular hand washing remains the single best way of reducing risk.