British passengers evacuated from the Hantavirus cruise ship have been quarantined at a hospital near Liverpool that housed the UK’s first Covid patients.
Some 22 passengers face six weeks of self-isolation after landing in Manchester last night on a chartered Titan Airways flight from Tenerife, where they finally escaped the MV Hondius cruise ship.
The 20 Britons, one German with UK residency, and one Japanese passenger, were tested for Hantavirus before boarding then taken by coach to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, Merseyside.
Meanwhile, concern about further cases is growing after more passengers around the world were diagnosed with the disease.
One of the 17 Americans evacuated from the ship has tested positive for Hantavirus, and another has developed ‘mild symptoms’, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed on Sunday night.
A Briton with American citizenship was evacuated to the States as well.
One French passenger also began displaying signs of the virus during a chartered flight from Tenerife to Paris.
France’s Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said all five French nationals evacuated had been ‘immediately placed in strict isolation until further notice’ in light of the development.
The bus carrying British passengers from the MV Hondius heads to Arrowe Park Hospital
One of the British nationals on board the coach to the hospital, after arriving in Manchester
A drone view of Arrowe Park Hospital, where the evacuated passengers will self-isolate
The passengers evacuated to the UK will now spend 72 hours in specialised self-isolation apartments, while undergoing clinical assessments and testing
After that, health experts will decide whether the passengers can isolate at home to see out the remainder of the 45-day period or if they will be transferred to another site.
Strict infection-control measures were in place throughout the journey to the hospital, with passengers, crew, drivers and medical teams all wearing PPE.
Some of the passengers waved to cameras as they were bussed from the ship to the airport at Granadilla Port in Tenerife, and they could be seen again in facemasks and blue gowns on the coach arriving at the hospital near Liverpool.
Arrowe Park has six storeys of self-contained flats with their own bedrooms, en-suite bathrooms, kitchen and lounge facilities, which were 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, told the media that Arrowe Park would carry out ‘welfare checks on each individual’.
She added: ‘There’s nobody being transferred to us that has been symptomatic in any way.
‘There’s no impact on the hospital. Services are running as normal, patients should still attend their appointments.’
The hospital leader said if passengers develop symptoms, they will be taken to Royal Liverpool University Hospital, which houses the regional Tropical and Infectious Diseases Unit.
A man waves as British passengers disembark from the MV Hondius and head by coach to the airport at Granadilla Port in Tenerife
American citizens arrive onshore after being evacuated from the MV Hondius
The plane landing at Manchester Airport carrying passengers that have been repatriated
Ms Holmes said Hantavirus is ‘very different’ to Covid and the risk to the general public is ‘really low’.
She added: ‘You’ve got to have really, really close contact. It’s not like Covid or flu or those types of viruses.’
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.
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 are supported to isolate safely.
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at UKHSA, said the risk to the wider public was ‘extremely low’ and people can ‘carry on your daily business’.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme scientists were ‘working quite intensely’ on understanding 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.
‘We think the virus primarily spreads only from people who have symptoms, so the risk from someone who is asymptomatic is extremely low.
‘And if you think about the cruise ship setting, you know, this is a very close living situation so perhaps an area in which spread is more likely.
‘It’s not the same as most people’s private living arrangements, and it’s definitely not the same as people who might pass someone in the street, for example. So the risk there is essentially negligible.’
Medical staff talk with an American citizen after being evacuated from the MV Hondius
The cruise ship MV Hondius arrives at the Tenerife port after being affected by Hantavirus
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 said: ‘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 the two passengers with 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 of the cruise ship by nationality and ferrying passengers to a port by small boat.
The WHO said its goal was to finish the ship’s evacuation, apart from 30 crew members remaining on board, by 7pm on Monday.
Passengers were told to leave their luggage on the ship and were only allowed to take a small bag with essential items such as their phone and passport.
The Spanish health ministry said on Sunday that 94 people of 19 nationalities had been taken off the cruise ship.
One of five French passengers showed symptoms during their repatriation flight, Mr Lecornu said on Sunday.
In a post on X, he said all five were ‘immediately placed in strict isolation until further notice’ where they will receive medical care and undergo further testing.
US health officials confirmed one of the 17 Americans due to arrive on an evacuation flight to Nebraska early on Monday 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,’ Nebraska Medical Centre spokesman Kayla Thomas said.
‘The passenger who is going to the Biocontainment Unit tested positive for the virus but does not have symptoms.’
The 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 to Rotterdam in the Netherlands where it will undergo disinfection, the WHO said.
The WHO said on Saturday there had been six confirmed hantavirus cases linked to MV Hondius and four patients were in hospital.
It added that eight cases, including three deaths, had been reported – with one previous suspected case being reclassified after testing negative for hantavirus.
The UKHSA said 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 on to the South Atlantic island, while oxygen supplies and medical aid were also dropped.
The Ministry of Defence said it was the first time medical personnel had been parachuted in to provide humanitarian support.