Couple travelling the world in a yacht completely unaware of COVID -19 pandemic

A couple who quit their jobs in 2017 and bought a boat to sail around the world were completely unaware of the Covid-19 pandemic - until they tried to dock in the Caribbean.

Elena Manighetti from Lombardy, Italy and Ryan Osborne from Manchester left the Canary Islands in late February to plan to travel to St Vincent - a distance of 3,000 miles.

The couple had told their families that while on their journey they did not wish to receive any bad news.

However, when approaching the Caribbean, they were told that many of the islands had closed their borders to protect their populations from the Covid-19 virus.

The couple said when they left the Canary Islands they had been aware of a virus in China but did not think it could possibly affect their journey on the other side of the world.

After 25 days at sea - without access to news from the outside world as they had no mobile phone signal - they were told they were unable to dock at several ports because of the new lockdown restrictions.

The first they knew of Covid-19 was when a friend, who had sailed ahead of them, told them about the lockdown.

Ms Manighetti said that because she is an Italian citizen, authorities did not want to allow her to land because of the impact of Covid-19 on her native Lombardy.

The couple, who are currently in Bequia, Saint Vincent, are unable to continue their journey at the moment because nowhere is open.