Coronavirus: Eight test positive for Covid-19 on flight from Crete

Eight teenage holidaymakers who travelled to the UK from Crete have examined positive for coronavirus.

The boys have been on board Wizz Air’s flight 8168 from Heraklion to Luton Airport on 25 August.

The airline stated 212 individuals have been on the flight nevertheless it had “knowledgeable the related well being authorities”.

A Division of Well being and Social Care spokesperson stated it was conscious of the scenario and was advising these affected to self-isolate.

The youngsters, who’re from Winchester, Hampshire, have been a part of a bunch of 12 on board the flight and had spent 10 days in Crete.

Shortly after returning to the UK they have been contacted by pals they’d made on vacation from Estonia, who stated they’d examined positive upon their return residence.

‘No assist from authorities’

Damian Stafford, whose 18-year-old son examined positive, stated his household had not been contacted by the NHS test-and-trace system.

“We have merely needed to rely on the a lot vaunted British widespread sense and do issues on our personal with none assist from the authorities, and what we’re doing clearly is self-isolating,” he stated.

“The track-and-trace system would not should be world beating, it simply has to work, and it clearly would not in the intervening time.”

The Division of Well being and Social Care insisted the system was efficient.

It stated: “Tons of of hundreds persons are being examined each day and to verify we keep in command of this virus, we’re concentrating on our testing capability on the areas that want it most, together with these the place there’s an outbreak in addition to prioritising at-risk teams.”

In a press release, Wizz Air stated: “The airline has now knowledgeable the related well being authorities in England who’re accountable for contacting and advising the 204 different passengers who have been on board the flight.

“Wizz Air operates all flights in compliance with native journey laws, and the protection of passengers and employees is the primary precedence.”

The federal government has confronted rising stress to determine whether or not vacationers returning to England from Greece ought to quarantine, after Scotland and Wales launched their very own measures.

Main figures within the aviation business have additionally expressed frustration that the federal government has nonetheless not given its backing for testing at airports, akin to techniques in place in Germany and France, as a way to keep away from quarantine measures for these returning from international locations with greater charges of an infection.

In the meantime, Greece insisted it’s doing “all the pieces in our energy” to maintain UK holidaymakers protected.

Final month, a flight from Zante left almost 200 individuals dealing with self-isolation after 16 passengers on flight TOM6215 from the Greek island to Cardiff examined positive for Covid-19.