Virus fears in Venice

MY FrIenDs and I arrived at Marco polo airport, Venice, last Friday and were greeted by masked security officers taking our temperature.

When we departed on Monday, there were no masks or temperatures taken, despite a rise in the number of coronavirus cases and fatalities in Italy. When we arrived back in Manchester, there was no sign of any response to the outbreak.

One friend who works in a school was told to self-isolate at home for a fortnight, while another is awaiting a decision by her employer.

I hope all others who have returned from Italy behave responsibly.

Name and address supplied. MY DaUgHTer and niece were due to fly to Venice on Monday from stansted for a four-day trip. With the possibility of being caught up in a quarantine zone, facing self-isolation on their return or, even worse, unwittingly spreading coronavirus, they decided to cancel without a refund.

How can the government still allow numerous daily return flights to virus hot spots to continue? air travel is what has allowed this virus to spread quickly from country to country.

GRAHAM DARK, Hunstanton, Norfolk. In WHaT has been termed a coronavirus crisis in Italy, 50,000 people are confined to their homes after 322 people were diagnosed with the illness and 11 have died.

To put this in context, last year, the World Health Organisation estimated the annual mortality rate from flu was between 99,000 and 200,000.

However, no one was confined to their home, fears did not wipe $1 trillion off world stock markets and not one British tourist attacked the government’s ‘pitiful’ response.

ERIC WATERS, Lancing, W. Sussex.