A family who were forced into quarantine in their Wirral home over Coronavirus fears have said they feel like ‘caged animals’ in bizarre interview outside their window on This Morning.
Despite all being tested for the virus, Lorraine and Carlos Oliveira and their children Jonathan, 16, and Aoife, nine, from Merseyside, have been made to stay in their home after a holiday on the MS Westerdam cruise ship.
The vessel had been on a two week odyssey through southeast Asia after Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines and Guam had barred its entry over fears of the virus.
The ship was stranded at sea due to fears over the virus, and the family have been in quarantine for 12-days, with their eldest daughter Niamh, who had to move out of their home, bringing them essentials to get by.
Today, the family chatted to Alice Beer on the show, who communicated with them over video chat as she stood outside their window, but viewers were baffled by the segment, and teased that it looked like Alice was ‘in a zoo’.
Alison Beer (pictured right) chatted to a family forced into quarantine in their Wirral home over Coronavirus fears, who said they feel like ‘caged animals’ in bizarre interview outside their window
Lorraine Oliveira communicated with Alice over video chat as she stood outside their window, and told that the family were becoming ‘tetchy’
After confirming each of them had tested negative for the disease, Lorraine said over video chat: ‘Initially it was quite nice, but the novelty has definitely worn off.
‘We’ve been getting very tetchy with each other, a bit argumentative. We really just want to get out. We feel like caged animals, it’s shocking.’
Viewers were confused by the segment, with one insisting: ‘She’s talking about them like they’re in the f****g zoo.’
‘It’s like going to the zoo’, agreed another.
Viewers were baffled by the segment, and teased that it looked like Alice was ‘in a zoo’ while interviewing the family
A third said: ‘Alice talking to these people like they’re animals locked in the zoo.’
Speaking to their daughter Niamh outside the house, who had not attended the holiday and had been bringing them food, Alice asked: ‘Who is feeding them?’.
‘Me’, said Niamh, ‘I didn’t actually go on the holiday with them, so when they came back I had to move out.’
Lorraine explained the family receive a phone call from Public Health daily confirming they don’t have symptoms.
The family told hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield how ship was stranded at sea as ports due to fears over the virus and the family have been in quarantine for 12-days
Alice spoke to their daughter Niamh outside the house, who had not attended the holiday and had been bringing them food after moving out of the home
Lorraine explained the family receive a phone call from Public Health daily confirming they don’t have symptoms
The mother-of-three went on to explain that her son, who is studying for his A-levels, is ‘desperate to go back to school’.
‘They’re a little bit argumentative with us’, said Lorraine, ‘Johnny is desperate to get back to school.
‘He is extremely worried about his school work. He’s been emailed his work but he still needs to be attending classes to understand curriculum correctly.
‘He had his 17th birthday this weekend and obviously couldn’t celebrate with his friends because we were locked up.’
Last month cruise operator Holland America announced that Cambodia had granted approval for the ship to dock, after five countries turned it away.
The 1,455 passengers and 802 crew returned to dry land in Sihanoukville, before flying home via Phnom Penh and being told to stay in quarantine.