MADRID (Reuters) – A large Canary Islands hotel was locked down for coronavirus tests on Tuesday after a guest and his wife were found to be infected, as Spain also reported its first two cases of the disease on the mainland.
Catalan regional health authorities said a 36-year old Italian woman, resident in Barcelona, had tested positive after a recent trip to the north of Italy. Twenty-five people who came into contact with her will be quarantined at home for two weeks.
Shortly afterward, authorities in Valencia advised that a man had been diagnosed with the virus in the city of Villareal.
The four-star H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel in Tenerife went into lockdown after an Italian doctor on holiday on the island tested positive for the virus on Monday. His wife tested positive on Tuesday, the regional government said.
The doctor and his wife had been moved to a hospital isolation ward, and other hotel guests and staff would be tested for the virus, a process that will take some days, health authorities said.
Guests will remain there until the results of a second test on the doctor are determined and, depending on that outcome, “appropriate health measures will be taken”, a Spanish government spokeswoman said.
The hotel has hundreds of rooms, several restaurants and swimming pools, and is located 50 meters (55 yards) from the beach.
More than 700 guests spanning 25 nationalities, as well as staff members, are stuck in the hotel, Canaries regional government leader Angel Victor Torres said.
