As the United Kingdom nears the end of its second week in lockdown, people are continuing to adjust to the new way of living.
According to Sky News, as of 4 April, the number of deaths related to coronavirus in the UK is 4,313. The pandemic has seen people impacted up and down the country, including 17 year-old media student Flynn O’Boyle from Caythorpe, Lincolnshire.
Flynn was offered the opportunity to work in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, at a local school. The work began on 1 March and ended 14 March – three days before the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advised British people against all non-essential travel on 17 March.
As of 6 March, Tenerife had 9 active cases and information was being spread globally about how to prevent the virus, including ‘washing your hands for 20 seconds’ which encouraged the start of panic buying in the UK.
Flynn said: “We were aware of the virus but about a week into the placement things really escalated.
“We knew the number of cases was growing but weren’t given much information, we just had to keep washing our hands regularly.”
Britons abroad were becoming unsure of where they stood: whether they’d be able to get home and whether they’d be able to get any compensation should they have to go home earlier than expected.
He went on to say: “I was hoping that my flight would still go ahead, I didn’t want to be stranded in a foreign country but I was mostly concerned about my family back home and hoped they were well.”
Flynn was able to fly home as planned but others weren’t so lucky and were stranded in Tenerife as Spain went into lockdown.
To read the latest government advice regarding COVID-19, click here.