Hantavirus scare on cruise ship

Twenty British citizens evacuated from the virus-hit MV Hondius cruise ship have begun quarantine at a specialist quarantine facility in the UK after flying out of Tenerife amid fears of a hantavirus outbreak linked to the ship.The passengers arrived at Manchester Airport on a Titan Air charter flight on Sunday and were transferred to Arrow Park Hospital in Merseyside, the BBC reported.Health officials said all evacuees are currently “healthy and asymptomatic,” but they will be under observation for 72 hours before self-isolating at home for 42 days.

WHO confirms deaths related to outbreak

The outbreak on a Dutch cruise ship has claimed three lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed six people infected with hantavirus, including two British nationals who are currently being treated in the Netherlands and South Africa.Officials said the Andes strain of hantavirus, one of the few variants capable of spreading from person to person, was found in some passengers on the flight.The MV Hondius departed Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 with approximately 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries on board.

Evacuated passengers tested before boarding

Twenty Britons who were deported to the UK were tested for hantavirus before boarding a repatriation flight from Tenerife South Airport. Apart from them, a German citizen living in the UK and a Japanese passenger were also transferred to Arrow Park Hospital.Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer of the UK Health and Safety Agency (UKHSA), said authorities may revise the quarantine schedule based on scientific assessment in the coming days.“We’re going to be supporting them very closely, not only in terms of testing, but also the huge emotional turmoil that this will obviously bring,” he said.Health officials have also begun contact tracing of individuals who may have come into contact with the evacuated passengers.

Emotional support, arrangements for dedicated isolation apartments

Janel Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Teaching Hospitals Trust, said passengers would stay in self-contained accommodation units equipped with phones and essentials.“What we’ve learned from past experience is that they’re going to be completely devastated. They’re probably very traumatized by the whole experience,” Holmes said.A professional medical team will remain on site throughout the quarantine period. Any passengers who develop symptoms will be transferred to the Tropical and Infectious Diseases Unit at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.Authorities clarified that the hospital continues to operate normally and there is no risk to other patients, visitors or staff.

Cases have also appeared in other nationalities

The outbreak has also affected passengers from several other countries.French Prime Minister Sebastien Le Cornou said a French passenger started showing symptoms while being deported back to Paris from Tenerife.Meanwhile, U.S. health authorities said that of the 17 Americans evacuated, one had mild symptoms and another had a mildly positive PCR test for the Andes virus.There are two other suspected cases linked to the ship, including a British man currently in quarantine on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha. The British military has deployed six paratroopers and two clinicians to assist local medical staff there.

Ships to be disinfected in Rotterdam

While most of the passengers were disembarked and repatriated on Sunday, the bodies of about 30 crew members, a Dutch nurse and a deceased passenger were still on board.The World Health Organization said the ship will now sail to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where it will undergo extensive disinfection procedures.