Brits on board the MV Hondius which has been struck by an outbreak of hantavirus re expected to reach Tenerife on Sunday, with the hope of flying them back to the UK the same day
Brits are being flown home from the virus-struck cruise ship MV Hondius, with passengers and crew due to arrive back on British shores on Sunday.
Some 22 British passengers and crew on board the ship which was hit by an outbreak of hantavirus are expected to reach Tenerife on Sunday, with the hope of flying them back to the UK the same day.
Officials from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and Foreign Office will greet the MV Hondius ship when it docks in the Canary Islands, 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 dedicated repatriation flight, with the hope they will be flown back to the UK the same day.
That flight will be staffed by medical professionals and will carry equipment and medicines in case people fall ill.
The ship is currently on track to dock in Tenerife on Sunday, depending on weather conditions as it sails on a route from the coast off Cape Verde.
The majority of Britons returning are expected to self-isolate at home but the UKHSA is making arrangements for people to stay at other facilities if that is not possible. It said those details will be released at a further date.
Two British men are currently being treated for hantavirus in the Netherlands and Johannesburg, South Africa, while a third British man with symptoms is being cared for on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha.
In total, the Foreign Office said 30 passengers and crew from the MV Hondius are British, with 22 still on board the vessel.
Seven Britons disembarked the ship in St Helena on April 23, with the British man with suspected hantavirus leaving the ship at Tristan da Cunha.
Two Britons who left the ship at St Helena flew back to the UK and are self-isolating in the UK but do not have symptoms.
Four Britons are still on St Helena and a further Briton has been tracked and reached in an undisclosed country outside of the UK.
All those who were in contact with British nationals who left the ship are being traced and contacted by the UKHSA, though there is no indication of how many people that involves.
The Foreign Office is in daily contact with the 22 British passengers and crew on the ship and is answering any questions they have. They currently have no symptoms of hantavirus.
It is understood that any person who develops symptoms on the ship before it lands would then be treated in the Canary Islands.
A Foreign Office and UKHSA team are in Tenerife to receive the passengers off the boat.
Britons returning to the UK will not be allowed to take public transport to their homes to self-isolate.
They will stay in self-isolation for 45 days and will be self-testing. Further testing will be carried out once the 45-day isolation period ends.
UKHSA experts are still looking into the spread of the virus between people, with previous outbreaks suggesting people need to be in close contact and most transmission occurs when people have symptoms.
Officials do not believe the current strain from the ship is more transmissible than in previous cases, though work is ongoing to study the virus.
Nine confirmed cases of hantavirus have so far been linked to a cruise ship, including the two British men, with the further suspected case in a British man.
Fives of the nine cases overall are confirmed hantavirus, while four remain are suspected cases.
The remote islands of St Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha all lie in the South Atlantic Ocean, midway between Africa and South America.
Around 30 people are now known to have left the cruise ship when it docked in St Helena towards the end of April, including a Dutch woman who became unwell during onward travel and died.
Three people in total have died linked to the outbreak.
In a statement on Friday, the UKHSA said: “UK Government staff will be on the ground ready to support the British nationals disembarking.
“British passengers and ship crew not displaying any symptoms of hantavirus will be escorted by UK Government staff to an airport and given free passage back to the UK.”
It said Foreign Office officials and UKHSA teams will continue to support all passengers.
The statement added: “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.
“Follow-up is already under way 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 69-year-old British man who was taken off the ship with symptoms is currently receiving intensive care treatment at a private health facility in Sandton, Johannesburg, and is said to be improving.
Another Briton, Martin Anstee, 56, was taken off the ship on Wednesday and flown to the Netherlands to receive specialist medical care. He is also improving.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday that morale has improved on board since the ship started its journey to Tenerife.
It said two doctors are on board along with infectious disease experts from the WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), who are conducting a medical assessment of all passengers and crew.
While the risk to the public is low, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said there could be more cases because of the incubation period of the Andes virus – the variant of hantavirus linked to the outbreak.
Experts believe the incubation period for the virus in the human body can extend to six weeks.
The outbreak has been connected to a birdwatching expedition in Argentina which two of the passengers went on before boarding the ship.
It comes as Spain’s health secretary, Javier Padilla, reported there was a suspected case of hantavirus in Alicante.
According to El Pais newspaper, it involves a passenger who was on the same plane as the patient who died in Johannesburg.
Professor Sir Peter Horby, director of the pandemic sciences institute at the University of Oxford, said: “I believe the UKHSA, Foreign Office and NHS are taking all the right and necessary measures to protect the UK citizens involved in this challenging incident and to protect the broader UK population.
“Repatriation and isolation is the right thing to do, morally and scientifically.”
