Foreign Office communication ‘poor’ as quarantined British tourists are ‘kept in the dark’
A BRITON quarantined at a coronavirus-hit hotel in Tenerife has criticised the “poor” communication from the Foreign Office.
Lara Pennington said her family have been “kept completely in the dark” at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel, where at least four guests, including an Italian doctor, have tested positive for coronavirus.
The mother of two told BBC Breakfast that she felt quarantine provisions were not being safely managed at the four-star hotel in the south-west of the Spanish island.
Yesterday morning guests started to leave the locked-down hotel after undergoing screening for coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.
Overall, 130 guests from 11 countries have been told by Spanish authorities that they can leave, because they arrived at the hotel on Monday – after those who tested positive had been taken to hospital.
Sources told the PA news agency that around 50 of the British guests will be allowed to leave if they want to do so.
Ms Pennington told the BBC that her family have not left their hotel rooms, as they feel it would be “incredibly unsafe”.
“We don’t have an issue with being quarantined, it’s that we do not believe it is being safely managed within the hotel,” she said.
“Obviously we’ve had very, very limited communication, we feel like we’ve been kept completely in the dark. So what we are told we’re not even sure is coming from a reliable source.”
A health official told her that the family could leave their rooms if they were wearing masks, washed their hands regularly and did not touch their faces.
Ms Pennington added: “However, we have seen, witnessed, numerous people in the grounds walking round without masks on.
“I have two very small children, I have my in-laws here and they’re in their seventies, one with an underlying heart problem.
“We are not prepared to put them at risk. No special measures have been put in place for my children or for them, and we feel very, very unsafe.”
Airline Jet2 has said it will not fly back any people who have been staying at the hotel until they have tested negative, or until the incubation period has passed.
Ms Pennington said there was “no communication” coming into the hotel.