Amid the rapidly spreading COVID-19 cases across the globe, former Kiwi pacer Iain O’Brien fears for his wife’s health as she has a lung condition, which puts her at great risk.

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O’Brien, 43, lives in UK with his wife Rosie and two kids but he is currently stranded in New Zealand after three flight cancellations.

“The big bit for me is my wife has a lung condition where if she gets any sort of chest infection it can take time off her life,” O’Brien, who played 22 Tests, 10 ODIs and four T20s for Black Caps, was quoted as saying by the ‘stuff.co.nz’.

“This virus could kill her. With a couple of kids for her to deal with, and her mum is 80, there’s a fair bit on her plate at the moment. I would be kind of keen to take some of that stress off her but I think I’m just adding to it at the moment,” he added.

As of Tuesday (March 24), the COVID-19 outbreak has claimed more than 16,000 lives and infected over 381,000 people globally.

In order to contain the spread of virus, countries are going into lockdown and closing borders, which has left thousands of tourists stranded.

O’Brien has spent a lot of money to get back to UK but without any success. On Tuesday, his flight from Wellington was once again cancelled.

“I’m lucky I’ve been able to buy three flights to try get back, even though none of them have worked out. At least I could do that,” he said.

“It’s going to make stuff really tight, but I can’t complain. There are people in tougher situations than this. It’s just my wife that’s the worry. I want to get back, get through that two weeks (self-isolation), and then start helping out.”

Iain O’Brien was in New Zealand to deal with some mental health issues and it was his first visit to his country of birth in five years.

“I genuinely needed it for my soul. I’ve been going through some pretty tough mental health stuff for the last 6-7 months, and this was part of trying to deal with that.

“I’m fine. There were a couple of tears last night and a few more outside the airport this morning. It’s not undoing the goodness that this trip has been, but it’s not the finish I wanted. I didn’t get to see my brother (Blair) who I haven’t seen for five years.

“But I’ll get home and everything will be all right. I’ll just have to come back again soon.”