A thousand guests and workers at a hotel in Tenerife have been quarantined after an Italian doctor and his wife tested positive for coronavirus, and as the first cases of the disease were detected in Austria, Croatia and Switzerland.
The number of confirmed cases of the virus in Spain rose to five on Tuesday afternoon after an Italian woman living in Barcelona tested positive following a recent trip to northern Italy, the location of Europe’s biggest coronavirus outbreak.
Spanish health authorities had already identified two confirmed cases – one on the remote Canary island of La Gomera and another on the Balearic island of Mallorca – but the Catalan case is the first detected in mainland Spain.
Catalonia’s regional government said a 36-year-old Italian woman had been placed in quarantine after visiting Bergamo and Milan earlier this month.
The Catalan health minister, Joan Guix, said regional authorities were “constantly updating their health protocol and are in contact with the Spanish health ministry and other regional governments”.
He said the quarantined woman was showing mild, flu-like symptoms, adding that 25 people who may have come into contact with her had been told to stay at home as a precaution.
News of Spain’s rising infection toll came as the Austrian state of Tyrol, which borders Italy, confirmed its first two cases of the virus and
a hotel in Innsbruck was placed under lockdown after an Italian receptionist there contracted the virus, according to local media.
Croatia confirmed its first case in a hospital patient in the capital, Zagreb, and Switzerland’s first cases of the disease was confirmed on Tuesday by the federal office of public health.
Meanwhile in the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that Americans should “prepare for the expectation that this might be bad”. “It’s not so much of a question of if this will happen in this country any more but a question of when this will happen,” said Dr Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
And Dr Bruce Aylward, who led team of international experts who visited China for the WHO, said every country in the world should learn from Beijing’s experience of containing the coronavirus. “Hundreds of thousands of people in China did not get COVID-19 because of this aggressive response,” he said.
Hotel lockdown
Health authorities in the Canary Islands ordered the lockdown of the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel in south Tenerife after the 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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The World Health Organization is recommending that people take simple precautions to reduce exposure to and transmission of the coronavirus, for which there is no specific cure or vaccine.
The UN agency advises people to:
- Frequently wash their hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or warm water and soap
- Cover their mouth and nose with a flexed elbow or tissue when sneezing or coughing
- Avoid close contact with anyone who has a fever or cough
- Seek early medical help if they have a fever, cough and difficulty breathing, and share their travel history with healthcare providers
- Advice about face masks varies. Wearing them while out and about may offer some protection against both spreading and catching the virus via coughs and sneezes, but it is not a cast-iron guarantee of protection
Many countries are now enforcing or recommending curfews or lockdowns. Check with your local authorities for up-to-date information about the situation in your area.
In the UK, NHS advice is that anyone with symptoms should stay at home for at least 7 days.
If you live with other people, they should stay at home for at least 14 days, to avoid spreading the infection outside the home.
The Italian couple are thought to have spent six days at the four-star, seafront hotel, which is used by the package holiday firms Tui and Jet2Holidays.
The pair are believed to be from the north of Italy, where most of the country’s 283 cases have been reported.
By Tuesday afternoon, the hotel, on the outskirts of Adeje, was quiet and workers had been told not to come to work.
The resort was guarded by police officers in face masks who declined to speak to the media, and a red barrier had been erected a few hundred metres from the main entrance.
The shops, bars and restaurants inside had been sealed off, and staff who had turned up to work in the morning had been told to go home.
A letter sent by managers to guests said they had to stay in their rooms after the coronavirus diagnosis.
“H10 Hotels has implemented all health and operational recommendations from the health authorities to ensure the safety and wellbeing of customers and employees,” the hotel said.
“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.”
A British guest told Reuters he was among those in quarantine and complained of a lack of information.
“We can see from the window there are security officers outside the hotel and about 50 hotel employees,” Christopher Betts said on the phone from his hotel room, adding that guests were asked to remain in their rooms.
Betts said they had been allowed to have breakfast in the hotel restaurant but added: “We have received no information whatsoever.” He said he had not been tested for the virus.
Waiters at a restaurant a short walk from the hotel said most of Tuesday’s lunch bookings had been cancelled as a result of the lockdown. The few customers who ventured in were given a warm welcome, a dose of hand gel and asked, very politely, to keep a few yards away.
But despite the tense mood, people praised the local authorities for their calm and quick response to the situation.
Ashotel, the association of hoteliers on Tenerife and four other Canary islands, called for calm and said the established protocols were in effect.
“The hotel where the affected tourist was staying is doing everything it can to deal with the situation and is demonstrating complete responsibility and following all the steps laid out in the protocol,” said a spokeswoman for the association.
“The situation inside the hotel is normal; all the customers are being kept informed about what’s going and are cooperating fully when it comes to following the recommendations laid out by the authorities.”
The Spanish government also urged people to remain calm and said the cabinet-wide commission on coronavirus had met to discuss the latest developments on Tuesday morning.
Nadia Calviño, one of Spain’s four deputy prime ministers, said the country would “adopt all necessary precautions” when it came to the virus, adding that the government was committed to “total transparency” and to keeping people properly and punctually informed.
“Spain has a first-class healthy system and we’ve been putting out a message of calm and of confidence from the very beginning of all this,” said Calviño.
The Canaries are still dealing with the aftermath of a Saharan sandstorm that reduced visibility and left thousands of travellers stranded in airports over the weekend.
The meteorological phenomenon, which is known as a calima, was accompanied by strong winds of up to 75mph that fanned at least three wildfires on different Canary islands.