13:23

At the StayCity hotel on Friday, business carried on as usual, with guests continuing to check in for weekend breaks in York despite the firm confirming that two people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the UK had been staying there.

Outside the hotel, two guests told the Guardian that as recently as Friday morning they had been told by reception staff the reports that two tourists had been taken ill from their apartment on Wednesday were “lies”.

“This morning they said it was a lie and not to listen to it,” said Andy Neale, 21, who is staying at StayCity for the night with his girlfriend. “It’s not ideal. They should’ve taken some precaution.”

He added that the incident had marred the couple’s getaway, saying: “My girlfriend is stressing out, she’s using hand wipes on everything.”

A family who were staying in the hotel on a visit from Asia to see their daughter, who is a student in York, said they had been told the cases were “false information” when they asked staff if reports were true.

Helen Papakosta, 15, from Greece, showed reporters a video she had taken on her phone of people in hazmat suits arriving at the hotel on Thursday morning – presumably to deep clean the suite where the affected guests had been staying.

Although her mother, Chrisa Papakosta, 48, whom she had been staying at the hotel with, was unfazed by the event she was “concerned” by it.

A statement from StayCity, the chain that owns the hotel, read: