UK to Repatriate Britons from Hantavirus Cruise Ship for Hospital Isolation

British passengers and crew from a cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak will be flown home and taken to a UK hospital for isolation.

Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral in Merseyside will receive them. The facility served as the UK's main quarantine site at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The MV Hondius is due to dock in the Canary Islands this weekend. The remaining 22 Britons aboard will board a charter flight home shortly afterward.

Health officials have confirmed five hantavirus cases so far, including one among the three passengers who died during the cruise on the Dutch-operated vessel.

Two British men with confirmed infections are receiving treatment in the Netherlands and South Africa. A third Briton is being treated for a suspected case on Tristan da Cunha, a remote Atlantic island where the ship stopped in mid-April.

A government statement said: "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. Following this, public health specialists will assess whether they can isolate at home or at another suitable location, based on their living arrangements."

It added: "Our partner organisations are working together to ensure that all returning passengers are welcomed, comfortable and well supported throughout their stay. We would like to thank our staff and partners across the NHS, emergency services and local government for their professionalism and dedication in co-ordinating this response, and we will continue to work closely with the UK Health Security Agency and other partners throughout."

The World Health Organization reported Saturday that no symptomatic passengers remained on board.