A hotel in Tenerife, a popular winter sun destination for people around Europe, is on lockdown after an Italian guest, believed to be a doctor, tested positive for COVID-19 virus, Spanish health officials have said as reported by ITV News.

The Canary Islands’ president confirmed a man who had been staying at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel in the south of Tenerife, was being kept in isolation following testing positive.

Spanish news media report nearly 1,000 tourists are staying at the complex and are not allowed to leave. His test results will be sent to Madrid for a second analysis, Ángel Víctor Torres said in a tweet.

Italy has seen Europe’s first major outbreak of coronavirus amid rapidly rising numbers of infections and seven deaths. Schools have been closed, theatre performances cancelled, and the last two days of Venice Carnival celebrations were called off.

The growing cluster of cases in Italy was of growing concern for authorities as there appeared to be no direct links to the origin of the outbreak in China.

The majority of cases in Italy are in rural towns, although Milan has at least one case. Health secretary Matt Hancock warned Britons returning from quarantined areas of northern Italy that they must self-isolate in order to help contain the spread of coronavirus whether they had symptoms or not.