UK teens held in Sicily hotel for more than three weeks

UK teens held in Sicily hotel for more than three weeks

By Onlykhabar News Media Thu 15 October, 2020 ( about 5 years ago ) 🎤756 Viewerstravel

When Millie, Lily, Lily Rose and Rachel finished their A Levels this year, they just wanted to get away for a few days.

They flew to Sicily, Italy on 8 September it was on the UK's safe list at the time) and they had a pretty good trip until they were ready to fly home.  They reported this to their Airbnb host, who arranged for them to have a coronavirus test. On 14 September they all experienced coronavirus symptoms - they'd lost their sense of smell. After testing positive, an Italian ambulance collected them from where they were staying and took them to a hotel being used to house people self-isolating due to coronavirus. Now, 22 days later, three of the girls are still there in solitary confinement. 

"We are in neighbouring rooms and we see each other briefly when we're collecting our food because it's left outside our doors," Lily Rose, who's 18, tells Radio 1 Newsbeat, from the hotel. "We can pop our heads out as we're collecting our food to see each other, but that's it." "Some days are better than others," Lily Rose says. Lily, Lily Rose and Rachel are isolating on the tenth floor of the hotel. They've been tested for coronavirus several times, and have been told they can leave when they return two consecutive negative tests, which is a local measure. "There are some instances we can hear people crying and shouting out and protesting and that's scary. That isn't nice when you're on your own."

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office told Newsbeat that it has been in "regular contact" with Lily Rose, but that it must adhere to "local health restrictions". "But where we have had concerns about food, rooms and medical issues affecting British nationals, we've raised them directly with the Italian authorities." "The length of quarantine is based on local measures to control the spread of Covid-19," says a government spokesperson. 

Millie, who's also 18, returned a negative and an inconclusive test and has been allowed to go home. "I'm so glad to be home and with my family," she tells Newsbeat. The group has been in isolation for more than three weeks. "We have all discussed this, it was the right thing to do and we would never want to have got on a plane knowing we could have infected anyone - even though our symptoms were so minor," Lily says. "We just wish we were being treated differently and we wish that we were home. We're all missing home a lot."

Similar Posts

By Onlykhabar News Media Thu 15 October, 2020 🎤756 Viewerstravel
TAGS: UK TeensSicily Hotel
UK teens held in Sicily hotel for more than three weeks

Give Your Comments

Visitors on Site

Loading ..

Socialize

Latest News Highlight