Coronavirus: No way out for those left stranded overseas

Australians are trapped overseas in their thousands and are expressing their frustration on social media.

Australian Kathryn Forte remains trapped in Guayaquil in Ecuador.

Kathryn Forte was already anxious about being trapped in Ecuador when a mayor ordered police to park across the runway at the nearest airport to stop rescue flights from landing.

The Australian woman had been booked to fly out of Guayaquil on Thursday — just hours before the runway was blocked — only to have her flight cancelled.

Then she heard the news that the mayor of Guayaquil, Cynthia Viteri, had stopped a plane — flown from Madrid to retrieve Spanish citizens stuck in the city — from landing over concerns of coronavirus. “How is it possible that you were going to permit this crew to stay in the city with the most coronavirus cases?” said Ms Viteri, who has been slammed by the Ecuadorean government and has since claimed to have contracted COVID-19.

It was one of a series of setbacks for Ms Forte, from the NSW town of Barmah on the Murray River, during a horror week. “It's very hard to see light at the end of the tunnel,” she said from the confines of her hotel, 10 minutes from the airport.

She said the best-case scenario was getting a private transfer to the capital, Quito, “and hope … I can’t see any chances from here”.

Ms Forte is just one of hundreds of thousands of Australians left stranded around the world as governments close their borders and airlines suspend international flights.

The Australian government called for all citizens who wanted to return to do so as soon as possible. But how, without government help?

Australians are trapped in their thousands in Latin America, and expressing their frustration on social media from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Honduras.

That frustration is being shared by those who have told the government online that they’re trapped in places such as France, Egypt and Morocco, The Philippines and Malaysia.