A hotel in Cornwall that decided to temporarily close due to staffing issues as result of the coronavirus pandemic has spoken out further to reassure the local community. 

The Housel Bay Hotel at The Lizard said on Wednesday that it was with "a very heavy heart" it would be closing for two weeks as of Thursday, despite not being told to by any official authorities.

In a statement on its Facebook page the hotel said: "It is with a very heavy heart we have made the difficult decision to temporarily close our hotel for the coming two weeks.

"Due to a localised spread we are left sadly under staffed at this time.

"We will go into temporary ‘hibernation’ after the breakfast shift on Thursday, October 8, and reopen at lunchtime on Friday, October 23.

"Our care and responsibility for our staff, guests and community is as always our biggest priority."

Read next: Covid clusters in the Lizard Peninsula and Penryn added to Cornwall map

The hotel went on to add: "We have not been advised to close by Local Health Protection Team or the NHS Track and Trace Team. However, we believe it is the right thing to do to take two weeks of ‘hibernation’ as a time to pause during a difficult time for our local community.

"We are so sorry for our guests who have had bookings. We would like to say a massive thank you to our team and guests who have been so supportive.

"Through kindness we will get through this together. Take care, stay well, and we will see you soon."

Now the hotel has spoken further to offer reassurance to the local community. 

A spokesperson for the hotel told the Packet: "We have always followed to the letter government and NHS guidance and continue to do so.

"We had the environmental health team visit yesterday (Wednesday), and they were so impressed with our Covid rules and measures. We passed the second visit with flying colours!

"It was unfortunate that there was a local transmission which left us without sufficient staff." 

The spokesperson went on to add that the hotel had been the ones to request the visit from Cornwall Environmental Health Team, and said: "They reassured us that we could not be doing more to make the working environment as safe as possible for our staff and guests.

"We are looking froward to reopening." 

On Monday this week 'The Lizard' was added to the government map of coronavirus case 'clusters' in Cornwall - although the area on the map under this title actually takes in a far reaching area that also includes Mullion, St Keverne and the Meneage villages.

The map always runs a few days behind, meaning the data showing was for the period of September 25 through to last Thursday, October 1, with any cases recorded between last Friday and over the weekend not be showing.