Evacuation of British Passengers from Hantavirus-Infected Cruise Ship Begins
The evacuation of British passengers from a cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak has commenced, with individuals returning to the UK for isolation at a former Covid quarantine site. The MV Hondius arrived in Tenerife on Sunday morning, and Spanish authorities began evacuating the ship by nationality.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) set a goal to complete the evacuation by 7pm on Monday, with the exception of 30 crew members remaining on board. A chartered Titan Airways flight departed from Tenerife South Airport on Sunday afternoon, with passengers heading to Manchester Airport before being taken to isolate at the UK’s initial Covid quarantine site.
Passengers have been instructed to leave their luggage on the ship and only carry a small bag containing essential items such as their phone and passport. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) stated that 22 British passengers and crew will be transferred to an isolation facility at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, Merseyside, after being repatriated to the UK.
A total of eight cases, including three deaths, have been reported, with one previous suspected case reclassified after testing negative for hantavirus. The UKHSA added that three British nationals are included in the eight cases. Two 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 Army nurse from 16 Air Assault Brigade were parachuted onto the South Atlantic island, while oxygen supplies and medical aid were also dropped on Tristan da Cunha, which is normally only accessible by boat.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it was the first time medical personnel had been parachuted in to provide humanitarian support. Spanish authorities confirmed that no passengers on the ship were showing symptoms of the virus, with 14 Spanish nationals forming the first group to be evacuated from the vessel being flown to a hospital in Madrid.
WHO director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a press conference in Tenerife that the outbreak was ‘not another Covid and the risk to the public is low’. Officials from the UKHSA and Foreign Office were due to greet the MV Hondius when it docked in Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, with Britons on board tested for hantavirus before they disembark.
If people test negative and are not displaying symptoms, they will be taken straight to a chartered repatriation flight staffed by medical professionals and containing personal protective equipment such as face masks. After returning to the UK, the passengers will be housed and provided with clothes at an accommodation block on the Arrowe Park site, away from the hospital’s public areas to receive clinical assessments and testing as a precautionary measure.
The hospital was used as the UK’s initial Covid quarantine site, with blue tarped fences around accommodation blocks being erected on Sunday morning. Emergency services in the North West of England said they expected the passengers to be kept in the ‘managed setting’ for up to 72 hours. They added that the NHS Trust and hospital is ‘operating as normal’ with no risk to patients, visitors or staff and ‘people should continue to come forward for care as usual’.
Following their isolation, public health specialists will assess whether passengers can isolate at home or at another suitable location based on their living arrangements. Britons returning to the UK will stay in self-isolation for 45 days and will not be allowed to take public transport to their homes.
Some 30 crew members and a nurse from the Netherlands, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to Rotterdam where it will undergo disinfection, WHO said. Meanwhile, a specialist team from the British Army has been parachuted onto the British overseas territory Tristan da Cunha – with medical personnel, aid and equipment to treat the Briton suspected to have hantavirus who disembarked there.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the safety of ‘all members of the British family’ is the top priority. She said: ‘We will continue to work closely with international authorities and the Tristan da Cunha administration, keeping those affected informed and ensuring the right support is in place in the UK and across the Overseas Territories.’
Janelle Holmes, the chief executive of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said in a letter to staff: ‘We have been asked by NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to house the guests, recognising how quickly and positively we responded to and supported the repatriation of British nationals from Wuhan and the Diamond Princess prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. We will be welcoming the guests on Sunday May 10, 2026 and they will all be screened for symptoms before they arrive on site; nobody showing any symptoms will be transferred here. If anyone becomes unwell after arrival, they will be transferred quickly to another facility.’
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at UKHSA, said: ‘We continue to work at pace with our international partners to ensure the safe repatriation of British nationals from the MV Hondius. The safety and wellbeing of those on board remains our number one priority. Established infection control measures will be in place at every step of the journey, and passengers will receive full support throughout, including during their period of isolation.’
A joint statement from NHS England North West, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board, Merseyside Police, North West Ambulance Service and Wirral Council said: ‘Organisations across Cheshire and Merseyside are working closely with colleagues from the UK Health Security Agency and other government bodies to support the repatriation of passengers from MV Hondius. In line with advice from the UK Health Security Agency, on arrival, they will be taken to a managed setting for clinical assessment and testing. We expect this initial stay to be up to 72 hours. Following this, public health specialists will assess whether they can isolate at home or at another suitable location, based on their living arrangements. The risk to the general population remains very low.’
WHO has sought to reassure ‘worried’ Tenerife residents that they will not encounter passengers of the hantavirus-hit cruise ship set to dock on their island. In a letter addressed to the people of Tenerife, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he knew residents were ‘worried’. He said the virus was ‘serious’ but the outbreak was ‘not another Covid’ and the ‘current public health risk from hantavirus remains low’. He added: ‘Spain’s authorities have prepared a careful, step-by-step plan: passengers will be ferried ashore at the industrial port of Granadilla, far from residential areas, in sealed, guarded vehicles, through a completely cordoned-off corridor, and repatriated directly to their home countries.’
The outbreak has been connected to a birdwatching expedition in Argentina that two of the passengers went on before boarding the ship. Tedros gave the same assurance and thanked the people of Tenerife for their solidarity. ‘I need you to hear me clearly,’ he wrote in an open letter to the people of Tenerife on Saturday: ‘This is not another Covid.’ After arriving in Tenerife, he said he was confident the operation would be a success. ‘Spain is ready and prepared,’ he told reporters.
At the port of Granadilla de Abona early on Sunday morning, white tents were sent up along the quay and the police secured part of the port. Despite the situation, daily life appeared largely normal, with some people swimming and others shopping at the market or sitting at cafe terraces. ‘There are worries there could be a danger, but honestly I don’t see people being very concerned,’ said David Parada, a lottery vendor.
Regional authorities have refused to allow the vessel to dock. Instead, it will remain offshore while passengers are screened and evacuated between Sunday and Monday – the only window health officials say the weather will allow. Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said earlier that ‘all guests and a limited number of crew members’ were expected to begin to leave the ship from around 7am. ‘Once disembarked, they will be transferred immediately to their allocated aircraft,’ the Dutch firm said.
The MV Hondius is sailing from Cape Verde, where three infected people had already been evacuated earlier in the week. In Madrid, Spain’s health and interior ministers insisted there would be ‘no contact’ with the local population, and that passengers would leave ‘by nationality groups’. ‘All areas (the passengers) pass through will be sealed off,’ the interior minister said, adding a maritime exclusion zone would be in force around the vessel.
The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde. Provincial health official Juan Petrina said there was an ‘almost zero chance’ the Dutch man linked to the outbreak contracted the disease in Ushuaia based on the virus’s incubation period, among other factors. Health authorities in several countries have been tracking passengers who had already disembarked and anyone who may have come into contact with them.
A flight attendant on the Dutch airline KLM, who came into contact with an infected passenger from the cruise ship and later showed mild symptoms, tested negative for hantavirus, WHO said on Friday. The passenger – the wife of the first person to die in the outbreak – had briefly been on a plane bound from Johannesburg to the Netherlands on April 25, but was removed before take-off. She died the following day in a Johannesburg hospital.
Spanish authorities said a woman on that flight was being tested for hantavirus, having developed symptoms at home in eastern Spain. She is in isolation in hospital, said health secretary Javier Padilla. Two Singapore residents who had been on the ship tested negative for the disease but would remain in quarantine, the city state’s authorities said on Friday. British health authorities also said on Friday that there was a suspected case on Tristan da Cunha, one of the world’s most isolated settlements with around 220 people.
In a statement today, Oceanwide Expeditions, the operator of the MV Hondius ship, said: ‘Oceanwide Expeditions continues to work with relevant authorities to bring the medical situation on board m/v Hondius to a conclusion. The vessel arrived at the port of Granadilla, Tenerife, on Sunday, 10 May, at 06.24am local time. Led by local authorities, the WHO, and select international governments, the disembarkation of all guests and a limited number of crew members is now underway. This is being performed by launch boats and, if necessary, the Zodiac craft of m/v Hondius. Upon disembarkation, all individuals will be transferred immediately to waiting aircraft. The sequence of disembarkation is being coordinated with the arrival of repatriation flights. Oceanwide Expeditions is not involved in the planning and facilitation of guest screening and repatriation. As outlined by the WHO, in partnership with several international organizations and governments, guests will be transported by air to their respective countries, where they will enter quarantine procedures. Respective national authorities determine these procedures. No quarantine of non-Spanish nationals will take place in Spain. After all guests and limited crew have disembarked, m/v Hondius will bunker and take on necessary supplies at Santa Cruz, Tenerife. Following this, the vessel will transit to the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands with the remaining crew members aboard. Further details regarding the vessel’s arrival in Rotterdam will be provided when available. The expected sailing time to Rotterdam is around five days.’
