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A 15-year-old boy is in quarantine after being tested for coronavirus following a school ski trip to Austria.

The teenager, who attends Dyke House Academy in Hartlepool, was one of 50 students to travel via coach and ferry to Hermagor in Austria over the half term holiday.

During their time there, the group, which included 11 members of staff, visited the town of Tarvisio in Italy and ate pizza at a restaurant.

They got back to England following the week-long break on Sunday morning.

A mother of one of the students was forced to visit one of the coronavirus pod at the University Hospital of North Tees in Stockton after her son started to feel ill on Tuesday.

She said she initially thought he just had a sore throat but, after taking advice from the school and a clinical practitioner, she realised he needed to have him checked out.

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The woman, who does not want to be named, said: "He said 'mum I've got a sore throat'. He had lost his voice. I didn't think anything of it at the time.

"I got a phone from the school with instructions from Public Health England. They said 'we advise you to phone 111'.

"I hadn't seen the news and I didn't know how bad it was in Italy.

"I rang 111 and they said not to worry if he hasn't got a temperature or his symptoms don't persist any further.

"I sent him back to school on Wednesday and I got a message from him saying his throat was really sore.

"I asked the school what they wanted me to do.

"They made a snap decision and said can you remove him for the time being until you get more advice from 111."

(Image: Evening Gazette)

The mum said that she was told by 111 that she would receive a further phone call from a clinical practitioner.

When she received the call, they told her that her details would be passed to the University Hospital of North Tees.

At 4.10am on Thursday, the woman received a call for her son to be tested at the coronavirus pods.

They are waiting for the result.

She said: "My son was on a coach with 50 people and those 50 people were got on to a ferry with another 500 people.

"Some of them people could have already been in contact with people who have been in Italy.

"I think the strangest bit was when the nurse came in fully gowned.

"That was a bit surreal, I wasn't expecting that.

"I just thought she would be wearing a face mask.

"They took swabs and stuff.

"As far as I'm concerned, there's no need to panic at the moment.

"I'm not worried because I know that if it did come back positive we have taken all the steps that we can take and I do know the NHS will treat him as they need to."

The group which travelled on the ski trip also contained students and members of staff from Manor Community Academy in Hartlepool.

Both schools are part of the Northern Education Trust.

A member of staff from one of the schools has already been tested for coronavirus.

This was found to be negative.