Coronavirus: Kimberley Finlayson, 52, dies on Bali break

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Media caption,

Ken Finlayson: "You need to be strong for your family"

The husband of a British woman who died in Bali after contracting coronavirus has said he has "lost half of himself".

Kimberley Finlayson, 52, had underlying health conditions and had two emergency operations in an Indonesian government hospital before dying on holiday.

The couple, from Hertfordshire, was able to say goodbye "for a few minutes" before her death on 11 March.

Ken Finlayson said he and his four children were "absolutely devastated" to lose her.

Mr Finlayson warned others about travelling abroad and said perhaps the outcome for his wife might have been different if she had been treated in the UK.

'Mistakes were made'

"The lesson for the British public to realise is that if you go to these places then people really mean well but you're giving up that level of care which we expect," he said.

"You are playing Russian roulette with your lives if you become critical.

"Mistakes were being made. I don't believe... if this had happened in Barnet Hospital, I believe our great NHS would have saved Kimberley."

She founded a dental communications company and was "so powerful, courageous, supportive of all of us" her widower said.

Mr Finlayson has tested negative for the virus so far but the UK government expects many people to be infected with the illness in the UK in the coming weeks and months.

He said there was an irony in the now-familiar phrase "underlying health issues" referring to his wife, who had diabetes.

"I don't know many people in their 50s who haven't received medication, haven't had some health issues. My wife is the most incredibly generous, loving mum."

Mrs Finlayson was reportedly the first British victim of coronavirus to be named.