90-Second Read: First plane carrying passengers from cruise ship hit by Hantavirus leaves Tenerife

Dozens of passengers and crew from countries around the world have been evacuated from a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly Hantavirus outbreak. At about 9pm on Sunday, a plane carrying 22 UK citizens landed in Manchester, it was reported. The Spanish government and the World Health Organization (WHO) have said the passengers and crew will not come into contact with people in Tenerife.

Flights carrying passengers from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Canada, Turkey, France, Ireland and the US followed. Spanish authorities said a Dutch refuelling plane would pick up any passengers who had not yet been evacuated on Monday. Passengers have been taken to the dock in groups of five to 10 by a small boat only when planes were on the asphalt ready to receive them, the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, said.

However, the director general of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was asked at a press conference in Tenerife on Saturday night whether allowing passengers to travel all over the world and relying on them to self-isolate with no oversight could cause further outbreaks. At the port Javier Padilla Bernáldez, Spain's health secretary, said PCR diagnostic testing was not being carried out on the ship and instead those onboard were having their temperatures taken and had filled out a health survey designed to identify Hantavirus symptoms. British people were among those taken off the ship as part of a two-day operation that began on Sunday in Tenerife.