Spain has ordered its hotels to shut by next Thursday, throwing British tourists into uncertainty with flights heavily reduced.
Hotels and other 'short-stay accommodation' are being shut down in Spain's latest draconian step to halt the spread of the virus.
Spanish authorities have already begun converting hotels into makeshift hospitals as they battle an outbreak which has killed 1,002 people in the country - after 169 new deaths were announced today - and infected 18,077 patients.
The hotels will have to close by next Thursday, although the measure does not apply to long-term accommodation where guests can cater for themselves - as long as they can obey quarantine rules.
The UK Foreign Office had appeared to confirm such a move earlier this week, but an earlier warning that hotels would shut by Tuesday is no longer on the FCO website.
The FCO now advises that Britons who want to return to the UK should 'make travel plans as soon as possible', although flights have been cut back because of the outbreak.
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