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About British 160 tourists trapped in a Tenerife hotel where four people tested positive for coronavirus will remain in isolation for 14 days, the regional government says.

About 1,000 guests had been asked to self-isolate in their rooms and take their own temperatures, but many ventured out on Wednesday to sun themselves by the pool, stretch their legs or grab a coffee or food amid confusion over the rules.

They found out on Wednesday that they would be quarantined for two weeks to prevent the flu-like virus from spreading.

As the H10 Costa Adeje Palace was locked down on Tuesday, notes were slipped under doors telling holidaymakers to "stay calm" and "not to leave your room"

Later, other advice suggested that guests could leave their rooms and walk the grounds of the four-star hotel as long as they are wearing masks, one confused holidaymaker said.

Are you at the hotel? Send your story and photos to webnews@mirror.co.uk.

(Image: Pacific Press/REX)

An Italian doctor, his wife and two others have tested positive for the virus at the hotel as the outbreak spreads across Europe, with 12 deaths in Italy and almost 400 infections confirmed.

There are fears that cases could skyrocket in Britain after hundreds of tourists, including pupils and school staff, visited two affected regions in northern Italy for ski trips.

At least 11 schools in the UK were closed on Wednesday and more than 20 others had sent some pupils and staff home to self-isolate.

In Tenerife, Britons staying at the quarantined hotel were confused over the advice they were given.

(Image: PA)

A tourist told Sky News that a note slipped under their door told them to remain in their room.

But, on the second day of the lockdown, other advice suggested "people could walk the grounds so long as they were wearing masks".

The holidaymaker added: "Very confusing what the actual risk/guidance is."

Guests have been handed thermometers and told to write down their own readings, while some people are moving around the hotel and going to the pool and restaurant even though they have been advised to stay in.

The El Pais newspaper said 800 guests from 25 countries are in the hotel, along with around 200 workers.

It reported that two security perimeters remain around the hotel, while a "field hospital" has been set up to treat anybody with coronavirus symptoms.

Hannah Green, 27, from Hertfordshire, who is staying in her room with her boyfriend, Court Amys, and their one-year-old son, said nobody had approached them to take their temperature.

She said: "Everyone got tested yesterday - last night. They had their temperatures taken, except us and another couple so far that we know of.

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"If we go out on to the balcony, the couple that we can see on our right hand side, they haven't (been checked) either, so it's our two rooms together.

"I was really upset this morning that the doctors hadn't been to see us. I feel like our son should be a priority because he's a baby.

"I know the doctors have got loads of people to see and I understand that but I'm gutted because it seems like everyone else has been seen except us and this other couple."

Ms Green said the family were eventually given a thermometer on Wednesday morning and told to take their own temperatures.

She said their readings were currently normal, adding: "We've got to take our temperatures again at 6 o'clock."

(Image: PA)

(Image: H10 Costa Adeje Palace)

Ms Green said she wanted to go home, adding that travel firm Tui - who the family travelled with - have called her and said they will keep her updated.

She said: "The hotel has turned it round a little bit, they've started giving us food and the staff are working hard.

"It's not their fault, they didn't expect this to happen either. They have turned it around, it's just the lack of information really that's getting to us. We just don't know what's going on or how long we're going to have to be here.

"Late last night we got a sub roll thing, like a baguette. It's things in packets like biscuits and crackers and stuff like that. We got croissants this morning.

"We've been making do with stuff."

(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

Ms Green said the couple are watching a lot of news coverage on their TV.

Her 31-year-old partner, an electrician, said he had seen guests heading off to the pool and the restaurant was now open, which "makes no sense".

Mr Amys added: "I'm obviously worried for my child but we're getting there. I just need some information really.

"I've been putting the mask on and going for a walk to keep track of things but they're still not telling us anything, they're just saying 'Stay in your rooms'.

"They're also saying they're serving lunch in the restaurant today, which makes no sense to me.

"What they're saying is 'Keep your masks on, don't sit too close to people'. It's impossible, the restaurant's going to be absolutely chaotic with everybody down there.

(Image: REUTERS)

"I'll be putting the mask on and going down to bring some food back up for my family.

"There are a few different restaurants on site but the only one that's going to be open is the buffet restaurant.

"Everyone's touching everything and it just doesn't make any sense at all.

"There is quite a few people out and about but everyone's got masks on.

"There's a few people down by the pool trying to make the most of the sun, but everyone's got a mask on."

Mr Amys said there were big queues at reception "with people just wanting to know what's going on".

(Image: REUTERS)

He added: "The front door has got big yellow tents set up outside it and the door's locked and nobody's allowed in or out.

"I don't think it's over the top. If the virus is here it needs to be contained so I do understand what they're doing.

"But they could do something about it a little quicker and let us know what's going on."

The Italian doctor, his wife and two others with them tested positive and were placed in isolation in hospital, the Canary Islands government confirmed.

The Canary Islands government added that more than 100 tourists at the hotel who are believed to have not had any contact with the couple will be allowed to leave, but it is not known if they include any Britons.

Briton Christopher Betts, who was stranded at the hotel in the south-west of the island said: "Everything is very quiet.

"We are fine, but pretty bored. We cannot go anywhere, just to the restaurants to have tea or coffee."

The holidaymaker, from Leicestershire, added: "We had no news since we were tested for temperature yesterday."

Guests found out about the lockdown when they woke up on Tuesday morning via a note slipped below their doors, he said.

Confined to their room for the day, he and his wife spent their time watching TV and surfing the internet but were looking forward to being allowed to use the hotel's pool and garden again on Wednesday.

Relatives of one 82-year-old British widower have raised concerns after guests were sent a letter saying the hotel is "closed down" and they must remain in their rooms until further notice.

Retired builder Alan Cunliffe, from Wigan, is on holiday and was due to fly home later this week.

(Image: PA)

"My uncle is stuck in the hotel currently on lockdown due to the coronavirus," said Mr Cunliffe's nephew, Jon Butler.

"He was supposed to be flying home on Friday. He's 82 and is there all alone.

"He has been stuck in his room all day without any information, no food, only water and is very concerned.

"He has not been contacted by the Foreign Office or any other officials, it seems and is in total limbo. Nor has the hotel or their staff been any help at all."

Mr Butler, 39, who lives near Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, added: "I have tried calling the British consulate in Tenerife several times without success and have left messages."

The lockdown was imposed after an Italian doctor staying at the hotel tested positive for the virus late on Monday.

His wife and two more people who travelled with them tested positive on Tuesday.

(Image: REUTERS)

The four, who have been hospitalised, were part of a group of 10.

Police were wearing face masks standing outside the hotel, while tourists could be seen on their balconies.

Mr Betts said guests had been brought picnic breakfasts in their rooms.

He was provided with blood pressure tablets after telling medical staff he did not have any left.

German Lilia Kovka, whose parents from Hamburg are at the hotel, said: "They are doing fine so far.

"We are just worried 'cause they both are over 60 and my mother has a tendency to get sick very easily.

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"At the first day, there was only a piece of paper with the information to stay in the the room, nothing more.

"Of course not everyone was taking this seriously and left the rooms to get breakfast.

"Later on, there was a second paper with the strict rule to stay inside. Today they are allowed to walk around but not leave the hotel, which is surrounded by police.

"It's back and forth."

She said her parents had told her there was not enough sanitising spray and, on the first day, her parents were given "water and a tiny package of noodles".

But on Wednesday they received juices, fruit and yoghurt.

"They will not starve, but my father has food allergies and I know he will skip some of the brought food," she said.

(Image: REUTERS)

She added that her parents had now been told to take their own temperatures and write down the results.

Guests found out on Wednesday they would spend two weeks in quarantine.

Regional official Maria Teresa Cruz Oval told reporters: "We have decided to put the guests in the hotel under isolation while they are being actively monitored ... for 14 days.

Hotel staff, if they don't have symptoms, will be able to go in and out of the hotel with precautionary measures, she said.

Any guests who live in Tenerife, a possibility during carnival celebrations, could spend the 14 days of isolation in their home.

The official added: "Asymptomatic hotel guests can have a normal life inside the hotel, with the required prevention measures, while the guests with symptoms will remain isolated in their rooms."

A group of a hundred tourists who arrived at the hotel on Monday and did not have contact with the Italian guests would be allowed to leave the hotel.

Most hotel guests show no symptoms, said officials.

On its website, H10 Hotels said: "To ensure the safety of customers and employees, the H10 Costa Adeje Palace will be temporarily closed for the next few days.

"All clients with a reservation within this period will be contacted and relocated to another H10 Hotel in Tenerife."