Dozens of passengers and crew from a cruise ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have been evacuated from Tenerife. Britons were among those taken off the vessel as part of a two-day operation that began on Sunday. They were put on chartered flights back to the UK, where they will enter hospital quarantine in Merseyside.
Spanish passengers wearing blue plastic ponchos and hair coverings were taken off the vessel by medical teams in hazmat suits after being screened for the infection. They were then taken by coach to Tenerife airport. The ship arrived in the Canary Islands carrying 146 people, after three people died of the virus and eight more became ill.
No one else onboard had symptoms, but passengers and crew had been confined to their cabins for days to help halt the spread of the virus, which is transmitted only through very close contact. They were each being screened for hantavirus, which can cause flu-like symptoms leading to respiratory arrest and death in some cases.
The 19 passengers and three crew from the UK were flown into quarantine at Arrowe Park hospital in Wirral. None of the British passengers are showing any symptoms, according to the head of the NHS trust managing the quarantine. They will get regular welfare checks over the next 72 hours in self-contained flats before self-isolating for 45 days at home.
Separate flights have been arranged for those from other countries. The French prime minister announced that one of five French nationals flown home was showing symptoms. In the US, the health department said that out of 17 Americans being repatriated, one had mild symptoms and another had tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes strain of the virus.
Spanish authorities said a Dutch refuelling plane would pick up any passengers who had not yet been evacuated on Monday. The last scheduled flight would be to Australia with six people. Those evacuated were being asked to isolate for 42 days from their point of potential exposure.
