In 2017, Elena Manighetti and Ryan Osborne decided to take the plunge many dream of - they quit their jobs, bought a boat and decided to travel around the world.

They asked their families to keep in touch, but with one rule: no bad news.

The couple, who lived in Manchester, were travelling across the Atlantic ocean from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean last month when, unbeknownst to them, a new and deadly coronavirus was spreading across the world.

After 25 days at sea, and with little communication with the outside world, the couple planned to dock on a small island in mid-March.

But upon getting phone signal while still off-shore, they discovered the island's borders were closed and found out the world had been suffering from a global pandemic they'd heard nothing about.

"In February we'd heard there was a virus in China, but with the limited information we had we figured by the time we got to the Caribbean in 25 days it would all be over," Elena says.

"When we arrived we realised it wasn't over and the whole world had been infected," adds Ryan.

'Borders closed'

The couple had mostly been out at sea when the coronavirus outbreak began. With limited access to the internet and contact from family and friends, the pair had no idea how serious it had become.

"We told our shore contacts we didn't want to hear any bad news, which was a difficult job as it was pretty bad news," says Elena, whose family is from Lombardy - the worst-hit region in Italy.

"We first attempted to land in one of the French territories in the Caribbean but when we arrived we found all the borders were closed and the islands were closing down," Ryan says.

"Even at that point we assumed it was a preventative measure due to the high season. We thought the islands didn't want to run the risk of a few tourists infecting the locals."

Back on their boat, the couple diverted their travel to Grenada and finally hit an area out at sea where their 4G was good enough to find out what was happening.

It was at that point they started to understand the magnitude of the virus.

"A friend of ours was already in Saint Vincent, which is where we were aiming to head. We managed to get in contact with her 10 hours before we were due to dock.

"She told us we were going to be refused entry as I'm an Italian citizen, even though I hadn't been to Italy in months," Elena says.

Luckily, the couple had been tracking their boat via a GPS signal.

They were able to prove their travel history, which showed that not only had they not been to Italy in months, they had also been in isolation for 25 days at sea. They were finally able to stand on dry land.

'Dad told me not to panic'

Both Elena and Ryan have found it difficult to hear how the pandemic has affected their families.

"My hometown is in the Italian region of Lombardy which has been one of the worst affected in the world," she says. "Ryan and I hadn't realised how it had affected our families until we docked and I managed to call my dad.

"It was a hard conversation. He told me to not panic but our town had been one of the worst affected areas globally. He sent me a New York Times profile on our hometown, which made it all feel suddenly real. I was shocked.

"It's a very macabre picture at home, there are no more coffins, no more cemetery space or room in the crematorium. My family is thankfully safe at home and have been in lockdown for over six weeks, but people we've known for years have died."

At the moment Elena and Ryan are safe in Bequia, Saint Vincent, but are worried about how long they'll be able to stay there.

"We don't want to leave Saint Vincent for now as nowhere is open," says Elena. "We're sitting tight for the time being with the aim of getting out before hurricane season starts at the beginning of June."

Their hope is to then travel north and continue exploring the Caribbean.

But for now things look uncertain, she says, adding: "We're sandwiched between the hurricane season and the virus."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-52332899

The UK will have to live with some disruptive social measures for at least the rest of the year, the government's chief medical adviser has said.

Prof Chris Whitty said it was "wholly unrealistic" to expect life would suddenly return to normal soon.

He said "in the long run" the ideal way out would be via a "highly effective vaccine" or drugs to treat the disease.

But he warned that the chance of having those within the next calendar year was "incredibly small".

"This disease is not going to be eradicated, it is not going to disappear," he said, at the government's daily coronavirus briefing.

"So we have to accept that we are working with a disease that we are going to be with globally... for the foreseeable future."

The latest figures show a further 759 people have died with the virus in UK hospitals, bringing the total number of deaths to 18,100.

Prof Whitty said the public should not expect the number of coronavirus-related deaths to "fall away" suddenly after the peak.

"In the long run, the exit from this is going to be one of two things, ideally," he said.

"A vaccine, and there are a variety of ways they can be deployed... or highly effective drugs so that people stop dying of this disease even if they catch it, or which can prevent this disease in vulnerable people."

Prof Whitty warned there were multiple different ways in which the coronavirus epidemic would result in deaths or ill health.

As well as those dying from Covid-19, he said others may die indirectly because the NHS has had to be "reoriented towards Covid", leading to fewer elective procedures and screening.

He also said if the interventions in place "extend deprivation among people" that would increase the risk to their long-term health.

"So what we have to do is think very seriously about this: what is the best balance of measures that gives us the best public health outcome?"

He said there was a "proper trade-off" which ministers would have to consider.

The government's chief medical adviser and other experts have often said the only secure long term route out of the coronavirus epidemic is the discovery of either a vaccine or effective drugs.

So Prof Whitty's latest comments are not a total surprise, however they throw cold water on any idea that lockdown restrictions will be fully lifted in the summer or even the autumn.

A vaccine and drugs are unlikely to materialise until next year and until then some form of social distancing will be required, according to Prof Whitty.

But that certainly doesn't mean all the current restrictions remain in place until then.

Schools, some businesses and public transport might well be reopened in the not too distant future. Pubs and restaurants, under this scenario, will probably be nearer the bottom of the list.

Prof Whitty of course is an adviser and it's up to the politicians to decide. They will have to weigh up the impact on the economy and society but also, as they often say, be guided by the science.

Also speaking at the briefing, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said easing social distancing measures too soon would risk a second spike of coronavirus cases.

He said this could trigger a second lockdown that would "prolong the economic pain" across the country.

Mr Raab, who is deputising for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, acknowledged the mental, physical and economic strain social distancing measures were having on people throughout the UK, but said they "must remain in place for the time being".

Gen Sir Nick Carter, the chief of the defence staff, also joined Wednesday's press conference and described the military response to coronavirus as the "single greatest logistical feat" of his 40 years of service

Gen Carter said the military has worked in support of healthcare workers on the front line, and has been involved with planning and testing - along with helping the Foreign Office with repatriation efforts.

He added that the military was also preparing mobile pop-up testing centres in a bid to roll-out more Covid-19 testing.

Earlier, the government insisted it would meet its target of 100,000 tests a day by the end of April - an increase of 82,000 on Monday's levels.

Sir Keir Starmer, who was making his debut in Prime Minister's Questions as Labour leader, said the UK had been "very slow and way behind other European countries" on testing.

He asked how it was possible to go from 18,000 tests a day to 100,000 in just eight days.

Mr Raab said the UK currently had testing capacity of 40,000 a day and, with new laboratories coming on stream, the government would reach its target.

In other developments:

• Coronavirus is likely to result in a high mortality rate in care homes, Prof Whitty says
• E-commerce giant eBay has built a new pilot e-portal for NHS staff to order personal protective equipment (PPE) which it says is in the final stage of testing
• Downing Street denies anyone put pressure on the Foreign Office permanent secretary to retract his testimony to MPs that a "political decision" was taken not to join EU schemes to source medical equipment
• An RAF plane carrying a delayed delivery of protective equipment has arrived in the UK as the government remains under pressure about NHS supplies
• The last Britons to remain on a cruise ship during the pandemic will finally disembark the Costa Deliziosa in Genoa, Italy, on Wednesday, the Foreign Office says
• A group of 25 doctors has written to the health secretary over concerns about the UK's current advice on self-isolation for coronavirus
• Delays in diagnosing and treating cancer could lead to more years of lost life than with Covid-19, a leading cancer expert says

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-52389285

Doctors and nurses have been assaulted, thrown off buses and barred from their homes, accused of spreading coronavirus

Jovanna was walking home after a morning of hospital consultations when she heard a shout behind her. As she turned to look, she felt something wet in her face. Within seconds, her vision went cloudy and she smelled bleach.

“They picked me out because I was wearing scrubs,” said the ear, nose and throat doctor from the Mexican city of Guadalajara, as she described the attack which left her with conjunctivitis and burns on her skin. “I didn’t see anything – I don’t know who it was, but I know they attacked another doctor on the same day.”

In most of the world, medical staff have been lauded as heroes for their response to the coronavirus pandemic. But in Mexico, the growing number of Covid-19 cases has brought with it a wave of violence against nurses and doctors who have wrongly been accused of spreading the disease.

At least 21 medical workers have been attacked in 12 states across the country, according to Fabiana Zepeda, the head of nursing for the Mexican Social Security Institute.

Her voice breaking with emotion, Zepeda told reporters this week that many health workers had started to change out of their uniforms when they travelled to and from work, to avoid being targeted.

“I have worn my nurse’s uniform for 27 years with great pride – as do doctors. But today we are taking off our uniforms because we don’t want to be injured,” she said.

So far, Mexico has seen 9,501 confirmed coronavirus cases, and 857 deaths, but health officials admit that the true infection level is at least eight times higher as the country has limited testing capacity.

On Tuesday, the health undersecretary Hugo López-Gatell who has led Mexico’s response to the pandemic, announced that the virus had reached the stage of rapid spread, and warned that “a large number of infections and hospitalisations” were imminent.

The country’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, drew criticism for initially downplaying the need for social distancing measures, and doctors and nurses have held protests and strikes over the lack of personnel and safety equipment.

Meanwhile, health workers have themselves been stigmatised and blamed for spreading the disease.

On social media, health workers have been targeted by trolls, but doctors and nurses have also been barred from their homes, denied service in restaurants and supermarkets, forced out of buses and metro carriages – and even attacked in the streets.

Sandra, a nurse in the city of San Luis Potosí described in a Facebook post how she was attacked by a woman and her two children as she left a coffee shop on her way to the hospital.

“She hit me in the face, and I had no choice but to defend myself. We ended up on the pavement, me trying to defend myself because I was proudly wearing my white uniform. I fractured two fingers on my right hand,” she wrote.

“What’s wrong with you, Mexico? We’re just trying to go to work. I care for you – but you don’t care for me. No more attacks on health workers!”

Some health workers have been forced from their homes.

After an eight-hour shift attending to suspected coronavirus patients at the hospital in the northern tourist resort of San Francisco, Melody found that the road into her home village had been blockaded.

Angry residents had closed the village, Lo de Marcos, to tourists and health workers. Melody was eventually allowed in under police escort – but only to collect her belongings and leave the village.

“It was really painful. I was scared for my safety – and I even ended up wondering if I really was spreading the virus. Now I’m staying with colleagues from the hospital because I have nowhere else to go. It’s not fair,” she said.

Zepeda, the chief nurse, called on Mexicans to remember the sacrifices that medical workers are making in their response to the epidemic. So far 150 health workers have contracted Covid-19 and six have died. “We beg those people who have attacked doctors and nurses to reconsider,” she said. “We could end up saving your lives.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/23/mexico-health-workers-attacked-covid-19-fears