UK quarantine resorts ‘a dying sentence’ for at-risk Britons, says most cancers affected person | Coronavirus

A British man undergoing treatment for stage four cancer says he is trapped abroad because it would be medically unsafe for him to return to a quarantine hotel.

“I couldn’t do the hotel. I think I would walk on a stretcher, ”said Michael Thomas, who is stuck in Madeira with his wife and 14-year-old daughter.

68-year-old Thomas is being treated for stage four incurable cancer and has therefore been shielded from the start of the pandemic. He flew to the Portuguese archipelago for a family vacation in December but was warned by his family doctor and oncologist that it would be dangerous for him to return and stay in a quarantine hotel for 10 days, effectively stranding him.

As of Monday, Madeira has been on the government’s red list of places where arrivals to the UK must be quarantined in a hotel at your own expense. There are no exceptions for people with medical conditions.

Thomas needs a special diet, access to medical care and support and also fears that he could contract coronavirus from another guest or employee, which he describes as a “death sentence for people like me”.

“I’ve been isolated since the pandemic started, but also long before that because I wasn’t good enough to do much more than sit around reading books,” he said. “We came out for 10 days in December. I really needed a break. “

In the 10 days he was vacationing in Madeira, coronavirus rates rose significantly in the UK. British Airways canceled his return flight and postponed it for early January, Thomas said, but his family doctor and oncologist recommended that he stay in the UK because of the growing risk of Covid. The family moved from their hotel to a nearby apartment and started chemotherapy in Madeira. Since the replacement flight, Thomas said all others had been canceled.

“Madeira is indeed part of Portugal, but it’s thousands of miles away in the middle of the Atlantic, ”said Thomas. “The reason we came was that Madeira has very few cases of Covid and it stays that way. Even so, our government decided to associate it with the mainland, which seems absurd. “

While those who stay in UK quarantine hotels are able to leave for medical attentionThomas’ family doctor told him that she thought it would be too dangerous for him there.

“The stress isn’t particularly helpful either,” he added. “It means that we are fundamentally forbidden to return to our own country. We can hang out here for a bit, but that’s really not the point. It won’t work in the medium or long term. I have a child that I need to have a life. “

He was offered a coronavirus vaccine by his family doctor, local council and hospital in his hometown of London, which he has no access to and which he cannot get in Madeira.

“I’m not saying that anyone intended it to be, but they haven’t fully thought through these things that need to be considered. Surely other people must be in a similar boat. It’s illogical. I have friends who are returning from LA this Thursday … and they will go through immigration and go home. That doesn’t make any logical sense. “

The Ministry of Health was asked for an opinion.