90-Second Read: Hantavirus cruise ship passengers enter isolation facility after evacuation to UK

The evacuation of passengers of all nationalities will be completed on Monday, with flights arriving from Australia and the Netherlands, Spain's health minister has said. The UK's initial Covid quarantine site at Arrowe Park hospital in Wirral, Merseyside, is being used to house 20 British passengers who were tested for Hantavirus before boarding the flight. Within a 72-hour period, the passengers are to receive clinical assessments and testing at the isolation facility, which has six floors of self-contained flats with their own bedrooms, en suite bathrooms, kitchen and lounge facilities.

A chartered Titan Airways flight transported the MV Hondius passengers from the Canary Islands to Manchester airport on Sunday evening. The Japanese passenger, whom the UK government took at Tokyo's request, will complete their isolation in line with UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) guidance. A flight from Australia will evacuate six passengers from Tenerife and another from the Netherlands will take 18 passengers, with both flights also carrying passengers from other countries that did not send their own repatriation flights, officials have said.

For those on the journey back to the UK, strict infection control measures were in place, with passengers, crew, drivers and medical teams all wearing personal protective equipment such as face masks. During their isolation period, passengers will have daily contact with UKHSA health protection teams to check on their wellbeing and ensure they are supported to isolate safely. Eight people no longer on the ship have fallen ill, according to a World Health Organization tally from Friday, of whom six are confirmed to have contracted the virus.