Coronavirus: Kiwis scramble to book last minute flights home amid Covid-19

A Kiwi on her OE in Edinburgh says up to 15 of her friends have scrambled to book last minute flights home to New Zealand and Australia amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Many of them work in the hospitality and tourism sectors and have lost their jobs as the city's streets empty out.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade this morning asked all Kiwis overseas to return as soon as possible due to the restriction on the number of flights now operating.

"Countries around the world are imposing strict travel restrictions," it posted.

"This is leading to a reduction in passenger numbers and many air routes will not remain commercially viable for long. The options for New Zealanders to get home are reducing dramatically. We are therefore urging New Zealanders travelling overseas to consider returning home as soon as possible."

Emme McKay has been living in Edinburgh for just under two months after setting out on her OE in Europe.

She said there was a lot of uncertainty and up to 15 of her friends had booked flights home.

"There are also a lot of worried parents on the other side who want them to come back to New Zealand and Australia and be on that side of the world."

McKay said she and many of her friends worked in the hospitality and tourism sectors, which have experienced "cancellation after cancellation".

"Everyone is in limbo they're not really sure what to do.

"Heaps of the pubs and clubs I think will close in the next week because we just don't have enough customers coming towards us. It's a bit uncertain here, it's a bit scary."

"Lots of my friends are on their two-year visas and they're deciding that it would be better to go home and be safe and be in that environment rather than be over here and maybe lose their job, some of them have been made redundant already."

McKay spoke to the Herald on the evening of St Patrick's Day in Scotland.

Her colleague, who had lived in the city for 35 years, said it was the quietest he'd ever seen it, she said.

McKay said she was planning to "stick it out" in Edinburgh.

Flights to return to New Zealand were £1000 and she would be planning to make her way back over anyway, she said.

But her friend, Becca Ryan, has booked flights home after being made redundant on Monday from her job working for a restaurant wholesaler.

"I've been forced to go home because there aren't any other options because there's no other work.

"I kind of saw it coming but I didn't think it would be so abrupt, I thought I may have cut down hours for a week or two."

Ryan will fly home to Christchurch next Wednesday where she will self-isolate.

She said there were 29 cases of coronavirus in the area she lived in abroad.

"I feel like we're living in borrowed time. When you walk day-to-day it doesn't feel that bad but you can tell what will happen."

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