At 22 weeks pregnant, Victoria Mallaris fears she will be “homeless” if she does not return to South Australia this week.
She and her husband were scheduled to board a Qatar Airways flight from London to Adelaide on Thursday, where they were to go to the hotel for mandatory quarantine before returning to Melbourne.
But as the city is plagued by a recent outbreak of coronavirus, the South Australian government has canceled all international flights – including those.
“The anxiety I feel at the moment is overwhelming. I can’t concentrate [on anything else]”She is OK.
“I feel very weak from my pregnancy and I am very worried about how this anxiety is affecting the health and development of our baby.
“I can’t really sleep at the moment because I’m so stressed.”
Despite constant refreshments to the Qatar Airways app and repeated calls to the airline’s contact center, Ms Maliers has received little information about her flight status.
“We have a silent radio from Qatar. [It appears] Communications between Qatar Airways’ frontline staff, Qatar’s headquarters and the Australian government are completely broken – no one has been able to advise us on what the emergency plan is, “he said.
“With less than 48 hours left for our scheduled flight, we are feeling completely frustrated and disappointed. We are at the wall. We will be homeless if we don’t get home this week.”
Trapped in Europe’s second wave
Ms Malias is one of many Australians stranded in the United Kingdom who are sharing their concerns over the cancellation of international flights to Adelaide, even as a second wave of coronavirus erupts in Europe.
Adelaide’s Parafield coronavirus cluster now has 20 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with genomic testing starting from a passenger staying at the Pepper Weymouth Medi-Hotel.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, which has more than 1.4 million Covid-19 infections, became the first European country to pass 50,000 coronavirus deaths last week.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered the whole of England to have a new national lockout that would last at least until early December, while the wandering nations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland locked in place. Have their own restrictions.
The airline’s board of representatives estimates that 30,000 Australians and permanent residents are stranded in the United Kingdom due to the number of people allowed to return each week.
‘My Heart Sinks Now’
Alana Deveni was scheduled to board a Qatar Airways flight from London to Adelaide on Thursday with her husband and eight-month-old son.
He said that when he took up the challenge of spreading the epidemic in Liverpool, the news that his flight to Adelaide had been canceled broke him.
“Honestly, I didn’t think much about the outbreak of just 17 cases in Adelaide at first – I think it happens every time you blink in the UK. I think the reaction is a bit dramatic. [given the situation here]”She is OK.
“But when I woke up and found out that there were some restrictions, my heart just sank. I sat on my bed crying.”
ABC understands that Qatar Airways has offered Ms Daveni and her family an alternative flight to Perth on November 21. However, due to the nationwide closure, affordable last minute accommodation in London has been hard to come by since 5 November.
“We have to get out of our airbnb in the morning and have not yet been able to contact the host to see if we can extend our interruption,” she said.
“So, at this stage we are officially homeless from 11:00 am – until we can get in touch with them in the morning.”
Unemployed, homeless and in Lakda .n
Chelsea Mathews was scheduled to fly to Brisbane via Melbourne a few months ago, but with the closure of that airport, it switched to Singapore Airlines via Adelaide.
The 23-year-old from Bryan Bay said she was “absolutely right” with him when he heard messages from friends and family in Australia on Monday announcing the cancellation of an international flight to Adelaide.
Ms Mathews said she had been working as a nanny in London for a year when the epidemic broke out in March. When that work dried up, her support network ran out and she was depressed by the lockout measures, she decided it was time to get home.
That was six months ago. This will be his fourth canceled flight.
“I was moved to tears,” said Matthews. I had nowhere to go – no job, no housing, no family to come back to London and a small amount of savings, “said Matthews.
“The closure of Adelaide Airport has made me really homeless. I will have to surf until I either find a flight home or find alternative accommodation.”
“I haven’t slept, I can’t eat. It’s been the biggest dream of my life. I just want to go home.”
Ms. Mathews said an alternative flight to Brisbane has been offered since then.
