Three Brits who had been stuck in Italy for more than two months are finally allowed to return home.
The friends were trapped in quarantine in Tuscany after testing positive for coronavirus - with the law in Italy stating you must have two negative tests in a row to leave.
Rhys James, 23, Quinn Paczensy, 20, and Will Castle 22, were teaching English in Florence before they tested posted on August 17.
They were taken from hospital straight to a coronavirus quarantine centre where they stayed for nine weeks.
Will,from Brighton, received his two negative results a week before his two friends, so he is already home.
This morning, it has been revealed on GMB that the remaining two will be returning.
They said: “We’re free. We’re coming home.
“Basically the emergency law in Italy which stated you needed two negative results to leave stopped yesterday, so essentially the law in the whole of Italy changed.
“Tuscany, the region we’re in, signed the agreement and basically said you just need one negative and 21 days of isolation … and we’ve done 61. So we’re allowed to go.”
Keep up to date with coronavirus cases in your area by adding your postcode below
Luckily, Quinn and Rhys make it back just in time before the change of rules in the UK which states anyone returning home from Italy must self isolate for two weeks.
They said: “That would have been terrible if we had to isolate on the return home for two weeks as well, after just doing 61 days in isolation.
“We beat it by 24 hours I think.”
Quinn said: “I don’t even have the words to explain how it feels just to know that we can go home do normal things , see our family,see our friends and have a normal life again.”
The two friends are set to fly home tomorrow morning on a BA Flight.
Receive newsletters with the latest news, sport and what's on updates from the Liverpool ECHO by signing up here.
