90-Second Read: British passengers from Hantavirus-hit cruise ship isolating in hospital

The passengers landed in the UK on Sunday and none have reported symptoms, but they will will be monitored in hospital for 72 hours. Twenty Britons are beginning 45 days of self-isolation in the UK after being evacuated from a cruise ship hit by Hantavirus. Meanwhile two Britons are voluntarily self-isolating at home in the UK, having disembarked the vessel at St Helena on 24 April alongside dozens of other passengers before the first case of Hantavirus was confirmed. Three people have died following the outbreak on the MV Hondius, including two whom the World Health Organization has confirmed had Hantavirus.

A Spanish national who was on board the ship also provisionally tested positive for Hantavirus, Spanish Health Minister Mónica García announced, with the result due to be confirmed late on Monday. Most strains of Hantavirus, a group of viruses carried by rodents, do not pass from person to person, but the Andes strain identified in a number of people who had been on the Dutch cruise ship does. Twenty British nationals along with one German national, who is a UK resident, and one Japanese passenger, are now being monitored at the hospital. On Monday evening the final six passengers who had been still onboard disembarked from the ship, alongside some members of the crew.

They are isolating at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside, after their chartered flight from Tenerife landed at Manchester Airport on Sunday. A British-US dual national is currently in quarantine in Nebraska, according to Matthew Ferreira of the US Health and Human Services department. Hantavirus is not spread through everyday social contact and there is no reason for local residents to be concerned. On Sunday, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper thanked those "who worked around the clock to get passengers from MV Hondius back to the UK by special flight this evening with public health protections in place".

As well as the confirmed cases, there are also two suspected cases, including a British man who is on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha. MV Hondius began its journey on 1 April in Ushuaia, Argentina, with about 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries reported to have initially been aboard. After their time in hospital, May said they will likely spend the rest of their isolation period in their homes, adding that decision would be made on a "case-by-case basis".