The number of people struck down with coronavirus at a packed Tenerife hotel has doubled overnight.
Another two tourists were quarantined in hospital after testing positive for the killer virus.
An Italian doctor and his wife who had been staying at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace had already been transferred to Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria University Hospital.
Two other Italians, who were part of the group of 10 holidaymakers that flew to the island on 17 February, were quarantined in the same hospital late yesterday (25 February) after testing positive.
News of the fresh cases came as hundreds of tourists were told they must remain in the hotel at the centre of the coronavirus scare.
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A spokesman for the regional health authority said: "We can confirm two more positives in Tenerife. They're members of the group of Italian nationals that travelled to the island together who were in direct contact with the first two cases."
The decision to put the hotel on lock-down was announced by regional health chiefs and Canary Islands president Angel Victor Torres on Tuesday night at a press conference.
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This opened up the prospect of British tourists having to spend nearly a fortnight locked in at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace before the standard incubation period ends.
However, Mr Torres did say that the 'hundred and odd' tourists who had checked into the hotel on Monday - and had had no contact with the Italian doctor and his wife - could leave today.
He added: "The others will have to be subject to active individual monitoring."
Setting out the immediate future for most of the holidaymakers currently in the hotel, Domingo Nunez, head of Epidemiology of the Canary Islands Health Service, said: "Guests will have to stay in the hotel without leaving the hotel.
"Those who have symptoms will be evaluated and will stay in the hotel without leaving their rooms and depending on the results of the tests and whether they test positive or negative, a further decision would then be taken.
"If they tested positive they would be transferred to hospital. The people who are not showing any symptoms can move freely inside the hotel, although under certain conditions such as using the face masks which are now available.
"But they still won't be able to leave the hotel. Once we have new information, we will come to a consensus with the Ministry of Health about what we're going to do.
"But at the moment the situation and the outlook is that people will have to stay inside the hotel."
The group of 10 Italians, that the unnamed doctor and his wife were part of, are expected to be the focus of the medical team that will now remain in the hotel 24/7.
Around 30 Brits travelling with TUI are known to be in the hotel. Officials say the guests come from 25 nationalities.
Since the weekend Spain has gone from having no current confirmed cases of coronavirus to seven - the four in Tenerife, one in Barcelona, one in Castellon and another in Madrid.
The Tenerife hotel at the centre of the coronavirus alert has announced that it is closing until the middle of March. H10 Costa Adeje Palace chiefs say the move is being taken to 'guarantee the safety of guests and staff'.
The reopening date has been given as March 15.
A message that comes up in Spanish on the hotel's website when prospective guests try to make a booking for the start of March says: "To guarantee the safety of guests and staff, the H10 Costa Adeje Place will remain temporarily closed until March 15.
"All those clients who have booked a holiday before then will be contacted and diverted to other hotels in our group in Tenerife."
Featured Image Credit: h10hotelsTopics: News, Coronavirus, Health