Britons evacuated from hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship return to UK

Britons evacuated from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak have arrived in the UK and have been taken to an isolation facility after being repatriated from Tenerife.

A chartered Titan Airways flight which transported the passengers from the Canary Islands landed at Manchester Airport on Sunday evening.

The 20 British passengers, who were tested for hantavirus before getting on the flight, will now isolate at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral.

The Merseyside hospital was the nation’s initial quarantine site for British citizens returning from Wuhan, China, at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020.

Emergency services in the North West said they expected the passengers to be housed and provided with clothes at the “managed setting” for up to 72 hours.

The Arrowe Park facility has six storeys of self-contained flats with their own bedrooms, en-suite bathrooms, kitchen and lounge facilities.

Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, told the media that Arrowe Park would do “welfare checks on each individual”.

She added: “There’s nobody being transferred to us that has been symptomatic in any way.

“There’s no impact on the hospital. Services are running as normal, patients should still attend their appointments.”

The hospital leader said if passengers develop symptoms, they will be taken to Royal Liverpool University Hospital, which houses the regional Tropical and Infectious Diseases Unit.

Ms Holmes said hantavirus is “very different” to Covid and the risk to the general public is “really low”.

She added: “You’ve got to have really, really close contact. It’s not like Covid or flu or those types of viruses.”

After their isolation, public health specialists will assess whether passengers can isolate at home or at another suitable location based on their living arrangements.

Britons returning to the UK will stay in self-isolation for 45 days and will not be allowed to take public transport to their homes.

It comes after the MV Hondius arrived in Tenerife in the early hours of Sunday, triggering an evacuation operation with passengers ferried to a port by small boat, not before medics in full PPE checked all remained asymptomatic.

Some 22 British nationals were taken to shore – with 20 getting on the repatriation flight and two dual-nationals heading elsewhere.

While they were being bussed from the port at Granadilla de Abona to Tenerife South Airport, some British passengers, clad in blue PPE, waved and gave thumbs up as they passed watching media.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said its goal was to finish the ship’s evacuation, with the exception of 30 crew members remaining on board, by 7pm on Monday.

Passengers were told to leave their luggage on the ship and were only allowed to take a small bag with essential items such as their phone and passport.

Spanish authorities said on Sunday that no passengers on the ship were showing symptoms of the virus, with 14 Spanish nationals who formed the first group to be evacuated from the vessel being flown to a hospital in Madrid.

Eight people are suspected to have fallen ill with hantavirus, including three who died – a Dutch couple ‌and a German national. Of the eight, six are confirmed to have contracted ‌the virus, with another two suspected cases.

A joint statement from NHS England North West, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB, Merseyside Police, North West Ambulance Service, and Wirral Council said: “In line with advice from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), on arrival [in the UK] they [British passengers] will be taken to a managed setting for clinical assessment and testing. We expect this initial stay to be up to 72 hours.

“Following this, public health specialists will assess whether they can isolate at home or at another suitable location, based on their living arrangements. The risk to the general population remains very low.

“Our partner organisations are working together to ensure that all returning passengers are welcomed, comfortable and well supported throughout their stay.”

Following their isolation, public health specialists will assess whether passengers can isolate at home or at another suitable location based on their living arrangements.

The two confirmed British cases are in hospital in South Africa and the Netherlands, while the third British national with a suspected case is being supported on the British overseas territory of Tristan da Cunha where they live.

Six paratroopers, an RAF consultant and Army nurse from 16 Air Assault Brigade were parachuted onto the South Atlantic island, while oxygen supplies and medical aid was also dropped on Tristan da Cunha, which is normally only accessible by boat.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it was the first time medical personnel had been parachuted in to provide humanitarian support.