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Britons on a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak are set to be repatriated from Tenerife to isolate at the hospital used as the UK’s initial Covid quarantine site, as the UKHSA said the risk to the public “remains very low”.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said British MV Hondius passengers will be transferred to an isolation facility at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, Merseyside, after being repatriated to the UK on a chartered flight.
The cruise ship, containing 22 British passengers and crew, is expected to reach Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, early on Sunday morning.
The UKHSA said on Saturday evening that the risk to the general public “remains very low”.
Officials from the UKHSA and Foreign Office will greet the MV Hondius when it docks in Tenerife, 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 in 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 to house British citizens returning from Wuhan, China, in January 2020 at the start of the Covid pandemic.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday that there were currently no symptomatic passengers on board the ship.
The UN health agency said there had been six confirmed hantavirus cases linked to MV Hondius and that four patients were currently in hospital.
It added that a total of 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 one is suspected.
The two confirmed British cases are in hospital in South Africa and the Netherlands, while the third British national disembarked from the ship on Tristan da Cunha, where they live and is being supported by health services on the remote South Atlantic island.
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.”
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.”
Emergency services in the north west of England said they expected the passengers to be kept in a “managed setting” for up to 72 hours.
Public health specialists will then assess whether they 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.
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, WHO director-general 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.