Evacuation of Hantavirus-Infected Cruise Ship Passengers
British passengers who were evacuated from the Hantavirus-infected cruise ship have been placed in quarantine at a hospital near Liverpool, which previously housed the UK’s first confirmed cases of Covid-19. The facility, Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, Merseyside, is now being used to isolate 22 passengers who arrived in Manchester via a chartered Titan Airways flight from Tenerife.
The group includes 20 Britons, one German national with UK residency, and one Japanese passenger. Before boarding the flight, all individuals were tested for Hantavirus and then transported by coach to the hospital. The passengers will spend the next 72 hours in specialized self-isolation apartments while undergoing clinical assessments and testing.
Following this initial period, health experts will determine whether the passengers can continue their 45-day isolation at home or if they need to be transferred to another designated site. Strict infection-control measures were maintained throughout the journey, with all passengers, crew, drivers, and medical teams wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).
Some of the passengers could be seen waving to cameras as they were bussed from the ship to Granadilla Port in Tenerife. They were later seen in facemasks and blue gowns on the coach arriving at the hospital near Liverpool.
Arrowe Park Hospital has six storeys of self-contained flats, each equipped with bedrooms, en-suite bathrooms, kitchens, and lounge facilities. These units were previously used as quarantine accommodation for the first UK patients diagnosed with Covid in January 2020.
Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, emphasized that the hospital would conduct “welfare checks on each individual” during their stay. She added that none of the passengers were symptomatic upon arrival and that the hospital’s services are running normally.
If any passengers develop symptoms, they will be transferred to Royal Liverpool University Hospital, which houses the regional Tropical and Infectious Diseases Unit. Ms Holmes also clarified that Hantavirus is “very different” from Covid and that the risk to the general public is “really low.”
She explained that close contact is required for transmission, which is not the case for viruses like Covid or flu. “You’ve got to have really, really close contact,” she said. “It’s not like Covid or flu or those types of viruses.”
Britons returning to the UK will remain in self-isolation for 45 days and will not be allowed to use public transport to reach their homes. The UK government took the Japanese passenger at the request of the Tokyo government, and they will complete their isolation in the UK in line with UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) guidance.
During their isolation period, passengers will have daily contact with UKHSA health protection teams to check on their wellbeing and ensure they isolate safely.
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at UKHSA, stated that the risk to the wider public is “extremely low.” He noted that scientists are working intensively to understand more about Hantavirus. “What we’ve seen so far is the individuals who have apparently contracted it from each other have been in very close contact. They’ve been sharing a cabin, for example, or had extremely close contact with someone who is strongly symptomatic.”
He added that the virus primarily spreads only from people who have symptoms, making the risk from asymptomatic individuals “extremely low.” In a cruise ship setting, where living conditions are very close, spread may be more likely. However, he stressed that the risk to the general public remains negligible.
Public health minister Sharon Hodgson said: “None of the passengers are symptomatic but we will monitor them closely over the next 72 hours at the hospital, as part of a precautionary isolation period. With no cases or symptoms among them and both our stringent monitoring and isolation measures, the risk to the public remains extremely low.”
In a post on X, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper thanked everyone involved in the evacuation efforts. “Thank you to all those who worked around the clock to get passengers from MV Hondius back to the UK by special flight this evening with public health protections in place. The UK has worked with Spain, South Africa, the Netherlands and the WHO [World Health Organisation] to coordinate safe returns.”
Some 17 Americans and one Briton arrived in the US after being evacuated from the cruise ship, with two passengers showing symptoms traveling in the plane’s biocontainment units. One case has been confirmed as Hantavirus, while the second symptomatic passenger has not received an official diagnosis. The aircraft was due to arrive in Omaha, Nebraska, early on Monday.
The MV Hondius arrived in Tenerife on Sunday morning, with Spanish authorities beginning evacuations by nationality and ferrying passengers to a port by small boat. The WHO aims to finish the ship’s evacuation, apart from 30 crew members remaining on board, by 7pm on Monday.
Passengers were instructed to leave their luggage on the ship and were only allowed to take a small bag containing essential items such as their phone and passport. The Spanish health ministry reported that 94 people of 19 nationalities had been taken off the cruise ship.
One of five French passengers showed symptoms during their repatriation flight, according to Mr Lecornu, who stated that all five were immediately placed in strict isolation until further notice.
US health officials confirmed that one of the 17 Americans arriving in Nebraska had tested positive for the virus without showing symptoms. “One passenger will be transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival, while other passengers will go to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring,” said Nebraska Medical Centre spokesman Kayla Thomas.
The 30 crew members and a nurse from the Netherlands, along with the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail to Rotterdam in the Netherlands for disinfection.
The WHO reported that there had been six confirmed Hantavirus cases linked to MV Hondius, with four patients in hospital. It added that eight cases, including three deaths, had been reported—though one previous suspected case was reclassified after testing negative for Hantavirus.
The UKHSA confirmed that three British nationals are included in the eight cases—two involve confirmed Hantavirus and another 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 an Army nurse from 16 Air Assault Brigade were parachuted onto the South Atlantic island, while oxygen supplies and medical aid were also dropped. The Ministry of Defence described this as the first time medical personnel had been parachuted in to provide humanitarian support.
