COVID-19 coronavrius: Tourist speaks to Euronews about life under lockdown at Tenerife hotel

Harriet, a Swedish tourist staying at the hotel in Tenerife under lockdown over COVID-19 coronavirus
Harriet, a Swedish tourist staying at the hotel in Tenerife under lockdown over COVID-19 coronavirus Copyright Euronews
By Euronews with AP, AFP
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Harriet spoke to us from a Tenerife hotel on lockdown after a guest tested positive for COVID-19 coronavirus

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A hotel on the holiday island of Tenerife was on lockdown on Tuesday after a guest tested positive for COVID-19, the new virus from China that has infected thousands worldwide.

Hundreds of guests at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel are now being monitored, a health authority spokeswoman told AFP.

Officials claimed the hotel was not under quarantine. But Harriet, a Swedish tourist staying at the hotel, told Euronews she was unable to leave her room.

"We are forbidden to go outside the hotel room ... and we have very little information about what’s going on."

"It took many hours — six or seven hours — until we got something to eat."

"We take care of each other, we don’t meet the staff at all ... and the person who gave us the food was protecting themselves from us."

"We are kind of isolated, all of us."

The Canary Islands, an archipelago located some 100 kilometres (62 miles) west of the African coast, is a popular vacation destination that attracts many northern Europeans all-year-around.

The guest, an Italian doctor, has been quarantined in a local clinic while samples are analysed in a hospital near Madrid to confirm the initial diagnosis, President Ángel Víctor Torres announced late on Monday on Twitter.

Results from the second test should come in later on Tuesday.

It was Spain’s third case of COVID-19 and the second in the islands that lie some 100 kilometres (62 miles) west of the African coast. A fourth was later confirmed in Catalonia. 

A German tourist was quarantined earlier this month in the island of La Gomera and a British citizen in the Mediterranean’s Balearic Islands. Both were released after recovering and showing no further symptoms of the illness.

The Spanish government has convened a special commission of various ministries Tuesday and a separate meeting with health authorities of all the Spanish regions to assess preparations for a possible uptick in cases.

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