Twenty-two people evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship due to a hantavirus outbreak are spending their first day in isolation at a facility in Merseyside. The passengers arrived on a chartered Titan Airways flight from Tenerife to Manchester airport on Sunday evening.
The UK's initial Covid quarantine site at Arrowe Park hospital in Wirral is housing 20 British passengers, one German national who is a UK resident, and one Japanese passenger. All were tested for hantavirus before boarding the flight. The Japanese passenger is isolating in line with UK Health Security Agency guidance at Tokyo's request.
Eight people from the ship have fallen ill, with six confirmed cases of hantavirus, according to the World Health Organization. Three people have died: a Dutch couple and a German national. Strict infection control measures were in place during the evacuation, with all individuals wearing personal protective equipment.
Passengers will undergo clinical assessments and testing within 72 hours at the isolation facility, which features self-contained flats with bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and lounges. Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, stated that no symptomatic passengers have been transferred and that hospital services are running normally.
If symptoms develop, passengers will be taken to Royal Liverpool University Hospital, which has a tropical and infectious diseases unit. Holmes emphasised that hantavirus requires very close contact to spread and poses a low risk to the general public. Passengers will self-isolate for 45 days, with daily contact from UKHSA health protection teams.
