Tenerife and Gran Canaria tell remaining 20,000 tourists to go home now – as coronavirus continues to spread – The Sun

THE Canary Government is calling for "zero tourism" in Tenerife, as well as the other islands which include Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, as around 20,000 holidaymakers are still waiting to be repatriated.

President, Ángel Víctor Torres says many still have no flights and has called for more planes in order to get them home.

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Welcoming the Spanish Government's decision to extend the State of Emergency until at least April 11th, he said there should be no tourists at all on the islands because of the coronavirus crisis and the closure of hotels and apartment accommodation by this Thursday.

He said: "Right now, with restricted transportation and closed hotels, we must have zero tourism."

There were originally about 80,000 tourists on the islands prior to the "go home" alert. The remaining holidaymakers come from the United Kingdom, Ireland,
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Poland.

Alert messages have been posted on the social network sites in eight different languages.

Holidaymakers returning to the airports by taxis are complaining that the drivers are refusing to take more than one person at a time and officials have confirmed this is the correct procedure.

There can only be the taxi driver and one passenger at a time due to the coronavirus regulations. The situation for private cars or rentals is that only the driver is allowed, not two people, and a number of tourists have been fined, including Brits.

There have been eleven deaths so far in the Canaries and 481 positive cases diagnosed.

Tenerife is the island of the archipelago most affected by the virus, with seven of the eleven deaths and more than 262 cases, according to the latest health statistics. All had previous pathologies and all but one were elderly.

Mr. Torres said although the Canaries are among the communities with the least positive cases, there should be no complacency as as more tests are carried out, "this data can increase significantly".

He has demanded the arrival by plane of more kits to carry out tests on a massive scale.

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Last week, Brits were told they shouldn't travel anywhere outside the UK for at least 30 days to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the entire nation to stay put unless it is absolutely essential – cancelling all holidays and trips – as he updated the country's travel advice. 

The EU also said it would ban all external travel for a month to try to stop the spread of the virus – along with countries around the world, leaving millions stranded.

Almost a million British travellers have been left stranded all over the world as airlines and borders shut down for the next six weeks due to coronavirus.

Thousands of Brits that have been left abroad are being charged up to ten times the standard return fare for a one-way ticket home.

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