It’s masks and bikinis in virus-stricken Tenerife
MATCH OFF... SCHOOLS DIVIDED...TOURISM IN TURMOIL...
SOME guests chose to stay in their rooms. Others put on their face masks and decided to relax by the hotel’s swimming pool.
The two approaches were just one sign of the confusion and frustration facing a group of holidaymakers, including quite a few Irish people, contained in a Tenerife hotel for two weeks.
Yesterday they told of the ‘absolutely awful’ situation and said they had been given conflicting information about how long the enforced stay would last.
Mandy Davis, who is on holiday with her husband Roger, said: ‘Nobody knows what the right thing to do is because nobody’s had this virus before.
‘So please, let’s sort something out. And let’s just get the hell out of here.’
Rosie Mitford, who is on holiday with her father and brother, only arrived at the hotel on Monday when the four Italians who tested positive had already left. The 18-yearold nursing student said: ‘We want to come home now. We don’t see the point of staying here for two weeks when none of us have symptoms and then isolating when we get back.’
The family were preparing for a reprieve last night when authorities on the Canary Islands said that a group of more than 100 recent arrivals could be allowed home.
Meanwhile, the holiday plans of millions of travellers could be at risk after the number of coronavirus cases around the world overtook China for the first time.
Brazil reported its first patient yesterday, and cases were also diagnosed in Greece, North Macedonia, Georgia and Pakistan.
And fresh cases in Spain, France, Croatia, Austria and Switzerland sparked industry fears that people may choose not to go on holiday.
Italy has emerged as the epicentre of the European outbreak with 50 more cases, including eight children, reported yesterday.