STUDENTS at a Somerset school who recently travelled to north Italy have been sent home as a precautionary measure amid coronavirus fears.

Pupils at Crispin School, in Street, have been told to go home 'following advice from the Department of health'.

A spokesperson for the school posted on social media: "Following advice from the Department of Health, students who have recently travelled to Northern Italy are being sent home as a precautionary measure.

"We will be seeking further advice and will update you accordingly."

meanwhile, around 50 pupils and staff from a school in Northern Ireland have also been sent home as a precaution against coronavirus after returning from an Italian ski holiday.

The group, from Ballymena in Co Antrim, were in the Lombardy region in the north of Italy but did not visit nine towns affected by the infection and are showing no symptoms.

There are strict quarantine restrictions in two northern hotspots close to Milan and Venice as Italy seeks to contain an outbreak of the virus.

Thousands of people cannot enter or leave several towns in the Lombardy and Veneto regions for the next two weeks without special permission.

Outside the zone, sporting events have been cancelled and many schools and businesses have suspended normal operations.

Elsewhere, a British holidaymaker who has been told to stay inside a Tenerife hotel said she is having a "holiday from hell" after an Italian doctor there was diagnosed with coronavirus.

Guests at the four-star H10 Costa Adeje Palace in the south west of the island have been sent a letter saying the hotel is "closed down" and they must remain in their rooms until further notice.

Travel firms Tui and Jet2holidays are among those who use use the hotel for package holidays, with Tui having around 200 guests there from different countries, including a small number from the UK.

Hannah Green, 27, from Hertfordshire, arrived at the hotel on Saturday with her boyfriend, Court Amys, and their one-year-old son. They are supposed to be staying until Sunday.

She told the PA news agency that communication had been "non-existent", adding: "We woke up to a note under our door this morning saying that for health reasons not to leave our room.

"I called downstairs to reception as soon as I saw it and they wouldn't tell us anything. So I quickly got on my phone and googled and saw a man had tested positive for coronavirus so I basically assumed it was that.

"But since then, we've had nothing from the hotel - no one has told us anything or what's going to happen."