‘Holiday from hell’: the Britons on coronavirus lockdown in Tenerife

British tourists have been left in limbo waiting to learn their fate after the Tenerife hotel they are staying in was placed in lockdown because of coronavirus fears.

Guests were confined to their rooms after an Italian doctor who stayed at the hotel tested positive for the potentially deadly virus. Despite warnings from experts that the quarantine of passengers and staff on the Diamond Princess ship may have been counterproductive allowing the virus to spread, tourists fear they may be in for a similarly long stay at the hotel.

Hannah Green, 27, from Hertfordshire, who is staying with her boyfriend and one-year-old son, told PA Media: “We woke up to a note under our door this morning saying for health reasons not to leave our room.

“I called downstairs to reception as soon as I saw it and they wouldn’t tell us anything. So I quickly got on my phone and googled and saw a man had tested positive for coronavirus so I basically assumed it was that.

“But since then, we’ve had nothing from the hotel – no one has told us anything or what’s going to happen.”

She said that since arriving on Saturday they had experienced a “holiday for hell”, having also been confined to the hotel on Sunday because of the sandstorm that struck the Canary Islands.

“We’re in our room with the baby,” said Green. We’re worried for the baby … I don’t think we’ll be allowed to leave. We don’t want to be here. We’re fed up now.”

The four-star H10 Costa Adeje Palace, located on the seafront, has 467 rooms, four pools and three restaurants. The quarantine meant customers missed lunch, forcing them to raid their minibars, although guests said they received food packages later in the afternoon.

David Hoon, 60, and Pamela Scott, 63, from Matlock, Derbyshire, said the situation was very worrying.

“Nobody is telling us what’s going on, how long this is going to last and who is going to feed us,” he reported “The way this has been handled is a disgrace.

“The hotel is like a ghost house and my fear is that by trapping us inside it, we stand more chance of catching the coronavirus. This whole thing is very worrying.”

The hotel was locked down after an Italian doctor complained of feeling ill and tested positive for the virus on Monday. The following day, the regional government announced that his wife had also tested positive.

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Samantha Day

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