Irish couple finally home after weeks stranded in Peru

A retired Irish doctor who has been stranded in Peru with his wife since early March and who contracted Covid-19 while in Latin America has arrived back in Dublin.

Dr Ian Lindsay and his wife Mary McCarron managed to fly from Cusco to Lima at the weekend and then caught a flight back to Europe organised by the German government. The couple were unable to fly home to Ireland on the emergency repatriation flight organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs on March 29th because he had tested positive for coronavirus.

Dr Lindsay, his wife, his sister-in-law and her partner had been stuck in quarantine since. Shortly after he tested positive for the virus, local health authorities in Cusco extended the mandatory quarantine period from 14 to 28 days. As a result, the couples were unable to leave the city for a British Airways repatriation flight from Lima last week.

They were also stopped last week from boarding a military plane arranged by the Peruvian government to bring tourists from Cusco to Lima after the local health ministry announced that any people who had contracted the virus, including those who had recovered, could not travel.

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The couples managed to reach Lima in a plane also commissioned by the German government in time to board the flight back to Europe. They arrived into Frankfurt on Monday, flew on to Amsterdam and reached Dublin on Monday night.

Dr Lindsay said local Peruvian airlines would not transport any tourists who had contracted the virus making it almost impossible for the group to get out of Cusco.

“They just refused to take anybody who either had the coronavirus infection in the past or even had close contact with the virus,” Dr Lindsay said. “It didn’t matter how long ago that had happened – simple blanket ban. It reminded me of the attitude towards Aids in the 80s.”

“The biggest problem in Cusco was just getting the authorities to agree anything. Everything had to be agreed by several local and national ministries. It was painfully slow.

Dr Lindsay said he was relieved to be home and hugely grateful for the support he received from the Irish ambassador in Chile and the British ambassador in Peru.

“They both went way above what was expected and help an awful lot of people because we were not the only ones stuck in Cusco,” he said. “There were dozens of backpackers in hotels with little money and very often quarantined in one room on their own for four weeks at a time. They were the ones who cheered the loudest as that plane left Lima.”