A WOMAN who was advised to self-isolate amid the UK coronavirus outbreak has been left in the dark for more than a week.

Melanie Delves has confined herself to her home after returning from a holiday in Thailand and showing symptoms of the illness.

But, unable to work or see friends and family, she says she is now being passed from one medical authority to another in a bid to find out when she can leave her house.

The 43-year-old Brighton resident said: “I had the test done on Wednesday last week and the doctor took my phone number and email address.

“He gave me some literature to read and said to keep self-isolating and avoid contact with other people. The leaflet said to wait between 24 and 48 hours for your test results, but I had not heard anything by Friday afternoon.”

Melanie contacted The Argus on Monday, still unable to pin down a definitive answer on her test results and whether she should leave her home.

She said: “I rang the hospital on Friday and they said the sample had been sent away. I have also contacted the NHS on 111 and Public Health England but they both said to contact the other one. I rang my GP on Monday morning and he said my results would not be with them.

“I have been passed from pillar to post, self-isolating and not able to go to work. The literature said 24 to 48 hours but this is not something they can commit to.”

Melanie urged the authorities to work together to inform and reassure potential coronavirus cases.

She said: “There is no communication whatsoever. I appreciate if there are no results back, fair enough, but there should be a contact number for someone waiting for their results, someone they can call to get answers.

“But with this there is no one you can contact. Do I call my GP, the NHS, Public Health England, the hospital? They are all blaming each other, no one is taking ownership.”

She said the preparation and advice when she first contacted the NHS with her symptoms had been “very good” but questioned if the reaction to later stages of testing had been fully prepared.

A spokeswoman for Public Health England said that individual cases could not be commented on but gave advice to those in self-isolation.

She said: “Although scientific understanding of this disease is continually developing, Public Health England has significant experience in combating previous coronavirus outbreaks, such as Sars.

“Most coronaviruses have incubation periods of about five to seven days.

“This, together with the research that has been conducted across the world, is why Public Health England and the international medical community have determined that 14 days is a reasonable conservative estimate of the incubation period for Covid-19.

“Our guidance reflects the prevailing scientific consensus.”