Britons evacuated from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship cannot legally be forced to self-isolate once released from the former Covid quarantine hospital where they are staying, it emerged Monday night.
The 22 passengers brought back from the MV Hondius are being asked to complete a 42-day isolation period after spending 72 hours at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral. But health officials will rely on voluntary co-operation unless passengers refuse to comply and the public is deemed at risk.
Concern was growing among families staying inside the hospital complex, where a taped-up door is all that separates relatives of vulnerable babies from passengers isolating after the outbreak. Kim Childs, 32, whose premature baby is being treated in intensive care at Arrowe Park Hospital, said she was worried after virus-exposed passengers were moved into accommodation next door.
Ms Childs, from Chester, said families staying in the accommodation block had been 'left in the lurch' and claimed they had not been given masks or PPE. She told The Telegraph: 'I have got a baby who was born 14 weeks premature and has respiratory issues. If I catch this disease, I am going to be infecting all these babies in the ICU.'
She added: 'It takes time to get the virus. We are not going to know if we have caught something until it is too late. I am very worried.' The mother-of-six said she only learned the passengers were moving in after hearing it from a passerby and could have made other arrangements if she had been informed earlier.
Worried locals elsewhere on the Wirral also questioned why those onboard had not remained isolated at sea. One resident wrote online: 'They were on a bloody ship, how much more quarantined can you get than being on a ship in the middle of the sea. Why not isolate on the ship.' Another added: 'The best solution would have been to leave them all on the ship for a longer holiday with medical staff.' Others questioned why the group had once again been brought to Merseyside, writing: 'Why the Wirral again, not London?'
It is a tragically familiar sight – a coach full of masked Britons taken to hospital under cover of darkness. But this time, the 22 passengers – terrified of a deadly virus – had arrived from the Canary Islands not Wuhan, China. Their cruise ship, MV Hondius, had been stranded off the west African coast near Cape Verde after it was turned away following news of the rat-borne hantavirus spreading on board. And in scenes reminiscent of the Covid pandemic, upon arriving in Manchester, they were sent to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, Merseyside – the same facility where the first Britons flown out of Wuhan were brought to isolate six years ago.
The hantavirus outbreak has been linked to three deaths so far – a Dutchman, his wife who tested positive and later died in South Africa, and a passenger from Germany. The ship finally reached Tenerife on Sunday, with the remaining passengers screened, hosed down with water and sent home on repatriation flights. Twenty Britons, along with one passenger from Japan and a German with UK residency, landed in Manchester later that night. They will spend 72 hours in Arrowe Park before self-isolating at home for 42 days.
One of those who stayed there in 2020 said it felt 'surreal' to see more Britons taken into isolation. Matt Raw, of Knutsford, Cheshire, told the Daily Mail: 'It's the ideal facility – it's perfectly comfortable and there were medical staff on hand 24 hours a day.' He recalled locals sending games to the hospital to keep them entertained, adding: 'Part of me wants to believe the location was chosen for the simple reason that the people of Wirral are probably the most friendly in England.'
But not everyone was pleased to have isolating patients on their doorstep again. Many expressed anger online, with photos of those taking off their masks on the coach offering little reassurance. Local health chiefs insisted the risk of hantavirus to the general public remained 'very low'. In a joint statement, health trusts, police and the council said Arrowe Park was operating 'completely normally', and that passengers were isolating 'as a precaution'.
It came as two passengers were confirmed to have the virus after being evacuated. Spain, the World Health Organisation and cruise firm Oceanwide Expeditions said none of the 140 remaining passengers were showing symptoms when they docked in Tenerife. But a French woman felt unwell during her flight home and was last night in a 'serious condition' in hospital. Four other French passengers on the same flight were placed under a strict lockdown. A US citizen who was flown home also tested 'mildly positive' for hantavirus, according to the Department of Health. And another was reportedly showing minor symptoms last night.
MV Hondius' captain Jan Dobrogowski praised his crew and passengers last night, saying: 'I've witnessed your caring, your unity and quiet strength.' Two Britons – one who was medically evacuated off the ship to South Africa and another, retired police officer Martin Anstee, 56, who was taken to the Netherlands – were both recovering in hospital yesterday.
