Criticism as Tenerife hotel containing 160 Britons allows guests to break quarantine
UK experts fear repeat of Diamond Princess debacle, in which the virus was allowed to spread
‘There’s loads of people out wandering. Everyone is wearing masks. They let people sit by the pool’
CLASHES have emerged over the safety of more than 160 Britons trapped in a hotel in Tenerife, amid warnings that the failure to isolate them properly will recreate the disasters of the Diamond Princess cruise ship, in which quarantine had not been observed.
Spanish health authorities have put the hotel into a 14-day lock-down, ratified by judges, after four guests – including a doctor from northern Italy – tested positive for coronavirus.
But they have said guests without symptoms can “lead a normal life” as long they stay on the hotel grounds, and take unspecified protection measures.
Last night scientists said the approach was “totally unacceptable” and would allow the spread of the virus between the approximately 700 guests staying at the hotel.
The Government is understood to be considering ordering an evacuation if the procedures do not control the situation.
Officials are monitoring the situation in the light of events on the Diamond Princess cruise ship – when the virus spread to more than 700 passengers, and Britons had to leave the ship as it became clear quarantine had not been observed.
Ministers are understood to fear the situation at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel may also spiral out of control.
Regional health chiefs in Spain are looking for a number of tourists who left the hotel after possibly coming into contact with four infected Italian guests, including at least one British holidaymaker thought to be back in the United Kingdom.
Teresa Cruz, the Canary Islands health minister, told a press conference yesterday: “Those guests who don’t have any symptoms can lead a normal life with the relevant measures of protection.
“Those guests with symptoms will remain isolated inside their rooms.”
The health authority spokesman Veronica Martin had earlier said: “The degree of supervision will be assessed during the day, but so far, we’re not talking about quarantine.”
Dr Bharat Pankhania, senior clinical lecturer, University of Exeter Medical School, said: “This is totally unacceptable – it is another Diamond Princess in the making. It is of grave concern. It is hard to believe, having seen what we saw with the cruise that anyone would embark on this strategy.
“Quarantine has to be taken seriously. That means keeping people isolated, removing them from all circulation, monitoring closely, reviewing cases.
“In this situation any new case would be at risk of spreading infection.”
“Every time there is a new case you set the 14-day clock back to the start again and again and again.”
Hannah Green, 27, from Hertfordshire, who is on holiday with Court Amys, her boyfriend, and their oneyear-old son, said on Wednesday: “There’s loads of people out wandering. Everyone is wearing masks.
“They let people sit by the pool. They are a bit more strict this morning, telling everybody the front door is completely locked down.”
Prof John Oxford, of Queen Mary, University of London, said: “The one way not to do it is how it was done on the cruise, where it fell apart. If you don’t do quarantine properly it is not worth doing.”
He said letting people out of their rooms unsupervised was far too dangerous. “They need to be kept at least 20ft [6m] apart from each other – it would be too risky to let them use the sunbeds,” he said.
One holidaymaker said the situation was like being stuck in “a luxurious prison”. Paolo Martelli, 89 from Milan, said: “Today they reopened the restaurant. We can circulate freely, sunbathe. But we can’t come out of the hotel.”
The hotel was quarantined after an Italian doctor staying as a guest tested positive for the virus.
His wife and two other Italians who flew with him to the island on Feb 17 subsequently tested positive.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “Our staff are offering advice and support to a number of British people in a hotel in Tenerife, and their families. We are in close contact with the hotel management and the Spanish authorities.
“We have confidence in the Spanish authorities and in the Spanish health service and we have no plans to evacuate at the moment.”
On Wednesday, authorities in Tenerife confirmed that 106 of the 723 guests staying at the resort could be released in the coming hours because they had had no direct contact with the four holidaymakers who tested positive for the virus.