Brit holidaymaker speaks of 'holiday from hell' inside virus-hit Tenerife hotel

  • Video report by ITV News Health Correspondent Emily Morgan

A British holidaymaker who is in a Tenerife hotel placed on lockdown after an Italian guest tested positive for coronavirus said she is having a "holiday from hell".

Guests staying at the four-star H10 Costa Adeje Palace in the south west of the island have been sent a letter saying the hotel is "closed down" and they must remain in their rooms until further notice.

An Italian doctor and his wife are being kept in isolation following testing positive, the Canary Islands' president confirmed.

On Thursday authorities confirmed that two other confined guests in the hotel are also infected.

Travel firms Tui and Jet2holidays are among those who use use the hotel for package holidays.

Spanish news media report nearly 1,000 tourists from across the world are staying at the complex.

All guests have been told to stay in their rooms in a letter from hotel managers that was pushed under their doors on Tuesday morning.

Spanish officials said an Italian man has tested positive for coronavirus. Credit: AP

Hannah Green, 27, from Hertfordshire, arrived at the hotel on Saturday with her boyfriend, Court Amys, and their one-year-old son.

She told the PA news agency that communication had been "non-existent", adding: "We woke up to a note under our door this morning saying that 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 a sandstorm at the weekend had also confined them to their rooms.

"The sandstorm was the day after we arrived, Sunday, so we had to stay in the hotel then," she said. "Holiday from hell, honestly."

H10 Costa Adeje Palace is in Tenerife, a popular winter sun spot for Brits. Credit: H10 Hotels

The Italian man's test results will be sent to Madrid for a second analysis, Canary Island president Ángel Víctor Torres said in a tweet.

The H10 Costa Adeje Palace is a four-star seafront hotel with nearly 500 rooms, and has four pools and a gym.

A statement from the hotel said: "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.

"Additionally, we are providing customers and hotel staff all the necessary care and attention so that, despite the inconveniences this situation may cause, they are taken care of in the best way possible."

Elaine Whitewick, a hairdresser from East Keswick in Yorkshire, and her friend Jayney Brown are on a week's holiday at the resort.

They told ITV News they had been "shocked" to receive the note pushed through their door on Tuesday morning saying the hotel was being shut down for health reasons.

The letter ordered them to stay in their room and they have been left "isolated" having received no communication from authorities or the hotel since, they told ITV news.

Ms Whitewick said they were running low on water and the only food they have was a small Kit Kat in the mini-bar. Later they were given a sandwich, an apple and an orange - the first time food has been provided for them in 20 hours.

Police are stopping people going in and out of the hotel. Credit: AP

"No-one's been in touch with us. We're trying to get in touch with reception to see what's happening, but it's just completely engaged," Ms Brown said. "

"As far as they're concerned we don't have any water, we don't have any food," Ms Whitewick continued.

"Nobody's knocked on our door or rung us or anything."

They are due to fly home on Friday, but they said they had heard rumours they could be quarantined in the hotel for up to two weeks.

A spokesperson for Leeds-based Jet2, said in a statement that they were "aware of reports that a non-Jet2holidays customer staying at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace in Tenerife has tested positive for coronavirus."

They said the health and safety of their customers was their "absolute priority".

Police officers in masks patrol outside the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel. Credit: AP

"In line with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advice, our flying programme remains unchanged," the statement said.

Tui UK said the company's holiday programme to Tenerife would also "continue to operate as planned for all other hotels".

The food sent to Ms Brown and Ms Whitewick for the first time in 20 hours. Credit: ITV News/Elaine Whitewick

Italy has seen Europe’s first major outbreak of coronavirus amid rapidly rising numbers of infections and seven deaths.

Schools have been closed, theatre performances cancelled, and the last two days of Venice Carnival celebrations were called off.

The growing cluster of cases in Italy was of growing concern for authorities as there appeared to be no direct links to the origin of the outbreak in China

Tenerife is a popular winter sun destination for people around Europe. Credit: PA

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The majority of cases in Italy are in rural towns, although Milan has at least one case.

Health secretary Matt Hancock warned Britons returning from quarantined areas of northern Italy that they must self-isolate in order to help contain the spread of coronavirus whether they had symptoms or not.