90-Second Read: Brit hospitalised with Hantavirus in the Netherlands after cruise ship outbreak returns to UK

The person was medically evacuated from the Netherlands to England and is now following strict infection prevention and control measures A British national treated for Hantavirus in the Netherlands has been medically evacuated back to the UK, health officials have confirmed. The infection is linked to an outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius, which has seen at least 11 passengers report cases, including three fatalities. The expedition guide and former police officer was flown to receive specialist medical care in the Netherlands after being airlifted off the vessel. This case was previously identified by the World Health Organisation on 7 May.

Passengers from the cruise ship were taken to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral for checks and an initial isolation period earlier this month. Some 19 British nationals were listed as passengers on the MV Hondius, which was sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde, with four British crew members. Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates MV Hondius, said on Tuesday that the ship is undergoing further cleaning in Rotterdam, on the advice of the GGD local health authority.

The individual is now adhering to stringent infection prevention and control measures, according to the Health Security Agency (HSA). It's important to stress that this is an existing case and the wider risk to the general public remains very low. The people isolating at home and those who remain in hospital are being closely monitored, it added. Public Health Scotland warned that a small number of people in Scotland have potentially had contact with the virus and that it was working to get in touch with "a small number of individuals" who could be affected.