UK Evacuates 22 from Hantavirus Ship to Quarantine at Arrowe Park

19 passengers and 3 crew to be flown to Merseyside on Sunday after screening in Tenerife

British passengers and crew from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak will fly home on Sunday and go straight into hospital quarantine, according to The Guardian.

Nineteen British passengers and three crew members will be taken to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral. The same hospital housed returning British nationals during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ship, MV Hondius, has 146 people on board. After spending days stranded off Praia in Cape Verde, it is now heading for Tenerife. Cape Verde officials refused to let it dock over fears that an outbreak could overwhelm their health system.

Before leaving Tenerife, all passengers will be screened for hantavirus on Sunday morning. Anyone who tests negative and shows no symptoms will then travel on to their home country. The UK group will be escorted by government staff and flown back free of charge.

In a message to staff, Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, explained the plan. She said British passengers and crew without symptoms would remain in isolation as a precaution. The accommodation block at Arrowe Park, she added, would give them a safe place to complete that period.

The ship is due to anchor off Tenerife’s Granadilla port early Sunday. Passengers have been asked to isolate for 42 days from the point they may have been exposed.

The head of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said hantavirus is “serious” but the public health risk remains low. He travelled to Spain on Saturday to meet President Pedro Sánchez, who is coordinating the evacuation.

Weather could still cause delays. Winds are expected to pick up after Monday, and that may leave passengers without confirmed flights stuck on board longer.

Source: The Guardian UK

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