Twenty-two passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship, which suffered a hantavirus outbreak, are spending their first day in isolation at Arrowe Park hospital in Wirral, Merseyside, after being evacuated to the UK from Tenerife. A chartered Titan Airways flight transported them to Manchester airport on Sunday evening.
The UK's initial Covid quarantine site is housing 20 British passengers, one German national who is a UK resident, and one Japanese passenger. The Japanese passenger is isolating in line with UK Health Security Agency guidance. Additional evacuation flights are arriving from Australia and the Netherlands to repatriate other nationalities.
Eight people from the ship have fallen ill, with six confirmed cases of hantavirus and three deaths—a Dutch couple and a German national. Reports also indicate that one American and one French passenger have tested positive. For the 72-hour initial isolation, passengers receive clinical assessments and testing in self-contained flats with bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen and lounge facilities.
Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, stated that no passengers are symptomatic and services at Arrowe Park remain unaffected. If symptoms develop, patients would be transferred to Royal Liverpool University Hospital's tropical and infectious diseases unit. Holmes emphasised that hantavirus requires very close contact to spread and poses a low risk to the public.
Public health minister Sharon Hodgson confirmed that passengers are asymptomatic and will be monitored closely. They will undergo a 45-day self-isolation period, with daily contact from UKHSA health protection teams. The risk to the public remains extremely low.
