Passengers begin evacuating from hantavirus-hit cruise ship
Britons to isolate in UK at Arrowe Park Hospital after repatriation
Last updated 6 hours ago
Passengers have begun evacuating from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak, as Britons on board prepare to be flown home to isolate at the UK’s initial Covid quarantine site.
The MV Hondius arrived in Tenerife on Sunday morning, with Spain beginning evacuations of the ship by nationality.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said 22 British passengers and crew will be transferred to an isolation facility at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, Merseyside, after being repatriated to the UK on a chartered flight.
It added that the risk to the public “remains very low”.
Spanish authorities said on Sunday that no passengers on the ship were showing symptoms of the virus, with 14 Spanish nationals the first group to be evacuated from the vessel.
Officials from the UKHSA and Foreign Office were due to greet the MV Hondius when it docked in Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, with Britons on board tested for hantavirus before they disembark.
If people test negative and are not displaying symptoms, they will be taken straight to a chartered repatriation flight staffed by medical professionals and containing personal protective equipment such as face masks.
In a post on social media on Sunday morning, World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “The disembarkment of the first group of MV Hondius passengers has started.
“WHO experts on the ground are working with the Spanish Health Ministry on the epidemiological assessment of the passengers and coordinating charter flights with the Interior Ministry.”
After returning to the UK, the passengers will be housed in an accommodation block on the Arrowe Park site away from the hospital’s public areas to receive clinical assessments and testing as a precautionary measure.
The hospital was used as the UK’s initial Covid quarantine site, with blue tarped fences around accommodation blocks being erected on Sunday morning.
Emergency services in the North West of England said they expected the passengers to be kept in the “managed setting” for up to 72 hours.
They added that the NHS Trust and hospital is “operating as normal” with no risk to patients, visitors or staff and “people should continue to come forward for care as usual”.
Following 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.
Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to Rotterdam in the Netherlands where it will undergo disinfection, Spanish authorities said.
WHO said on Saturday there had been six confirmed hantavirus cases linked to MV Hondius and four patients were currently in hospital.
It added that a total of eight cases, including three deaths, had been reported – with one previous suspected case being reclassified after testing negative for hantavirus.
The UKHSA said three British nationals are included in the eight cases – two involve confirmed hantavirus and another one is suspected.
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 RAF A400M transport aircraft flew from RAF Brize Norton to Ascension Island, supported by an RAF Voyager, before heading to Tristan da Cunha.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it was the first time medical personnel had been parachuted in to provide humanitarian support.