All British passengers and crew will be asked to isolate for 45 days upon returning to the UK, with the UK Health Security Agency saying they will closely monitor them, with testing as required
British passengers and crew on the MV Hondius are set to be flown back to the UK on Sunday before spending 45 days in quarantine at a hospital in Merseyside.
Arrowe Park Hospital previously housed returnees from Wuhan, China, at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. Wirral University Teaching Hospital Trust Janelle Holmes said: “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.”
British passengers and crew on the MV Hondius are set to be flown back to the UK tomorrow in a race against time rescue operation to beat bad weather forecast to hit the Canary Islands.
Rescue teams, including UK government staff, will immediately begin to evacuate up to 147 people, including 22 Brits, who remain onboard the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship after it docks in the Tenerife port of Granadilla.
Officials have said the ship is due to arrive there in the early hours of Sunday morning and the evacuation must be completed within 24 hours of the vessel reaching the popular holiday island in order to face days or even weeks of delays caused by expected bad weather.
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As part of the plans officials have organised a staggered evacuation operation using small zodiac boats with a maximum capacity of five persons.
Once ashore, passengers will be transferred in “bubble buses” directly to Tenerife South Airport, where they will board specially-chartered government planes.
A UK Health Security Agency spokesperson said: “FCDO and UKHSA teams will be on the ground to support these arrangements, bolstered by a Rapid Deployment Team sent from the UK. The FCDO is chartering a dedicated repatriation flight for British ship passengers and crew only. This flight will be free of charge.
“UKHSA is working with partners to ensure the flight operates under strict infection control measures. Public health and infectious disease specialists from UKHSA and the NHS will be on board to monitor British Nationals whilst on the flight, to ensure that preventative measures are in place and to provide any care in the unlikely event that any passengers become unwell on the flight.
“All British passengers and crew on board the MV Hondius will be asked to isolate for 45 days upon returning to the UK and UKHSA will closely monitor these individuals, with testing as required.”
A spokesperson for Oceanwide Expeditions, operators of the vessel, today added: “No symptomatic individuals are present on board m/v Hondius. Guests and crew continue to follow the guidance of onboard medical personnel, and medical monitoring continues.”
Three people, including a married Dutch couple and a German national, have died since the £19,000-a-head Atlantic Odyssey cruise set sail from Argentina on April 1.
“The first two Brits to get the deadly Andes strain of the virus — ship tour guide Martin Anstee, 56, and an unnamed 69-year-old man — are being treated in hospitals in the Netherlands and South Africa.
On Friday, it was announced a third British national who had been a passenger on the ship is also suspected of being infected with hantavirus.
They are in quarantine on the island of Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory in the South Atlantic where the ship stopped in April.
Of the seven Brits who got off the liner on the South Atlantic island of St Helena before the first confirmed case of the virus was reported, four remain there and two are self-isolating in the UK. The seventh, a dual national, has been traced outside Britain.
The total number of confirmed or suspected cases is now 11, including a woman who fell ill with suspected hantavirus after boarding the same flight as a patient who died in Johannesburg. She is being treated at a hospital in Alicante.
A UKHSA spokesperson said: “Follow up is already underway for individuals who may have been in contact with cases and have since returned to the UK or are in in UK Overseas Territories. The UK government will ensure those self-isolating are given appropriate support.
“UKHSA is aware of seven British Nationals who disembarked the ship at St Helena on 24 April. Two of those people have returned to the UK independently and are isolating at home in the UK.
“Neither of these individuals is currently reporting symptoms. They are receiving advice and support from UKHSA and have been advised to self-isolate. Four of these individuals remain in St Helena. A seventh individual has been traced outside of the UK.”
Head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, arrived in Spain on Saturday along with senior Spanish government officials, including Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska, “to oversee safe disembarkation of the passengers, crew members and health experts”.
He said: “WHO continues to actively monitor the situation, coordinate support and next steps and will keep Member States and the public updated accordingly. So far, the risk for the population of Canary Islands and globally remains low.”
Authorities on the island have faced protests from locals who fear an outbreak similar to Covid, but they have emphasised there will be no contact with the Canary population at any point during the process and insist it will be conducted under “maximum protection standards”.
Professor Robin May, Chief Scientific Officer at UKHSA, said: “This is an evolving situation and we are working closely with partners to support British Nationals on board the MV Hondius.
“The risk to the general population remains very low and the public can be reassured that established infection control measures will be put in place at every step of the journey to ensure the safe repatriation of British passengers on board.”
