90-Second Read: Plane carrying virus-stricken cruise ship passengers lands in UK

A plane carrying 20 Britons evacuated from a cruise ship hit by Hantavirus has arrived in the UK. Three people have died in the outbreak, including two of the six people whom the World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed have had 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. The passengers landed in the UK on Sunday and none have reported symptoms, but they will will be monitored in hospital for 72 hours. The passengers flew into Manchester Airport on a chartered flight from Tenerife, where the HV Hondius docked on Sunday morning, and have been taken to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral.

The other confirmed cases include two British nationals, who are being treated in the Netherlands and South Africa. Twenty-two British nationals were aboard the cruise ship when it docked in the Canary Islands on Sunday. The UK Government has worked with international partners to ensure the safe return of all remaining British nationals on board the MV Hondius, with passengers now safely transferred to Arrowe Park Hospital," the UKHSA said in a statement. Twenty British nationals are now being monitored at the hospital for a 72-hour period, along with one German national, who is a UK resident, and one Japanese passenger. Janelle Holmes, CEO of Wirral University Teaching Hospital Trust, which oversees Arrowe Park Hospital, said the former passengers will be screened and continuously assessed when they arrive there.

The risk to the general public remains very low, according to the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Most 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. They were tested for Hantavirus before getting on the flight. Thank you to all 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. None of UK nationals on the flight have reported symptoms, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said earlier.

After leaving Arrowe Park, the former passengers will be asked to self-isolate for a further 42 days as a precaution, UKHSA said. HV 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. Some could be seen clad in blue protective gear as they were bussed from the Granadilla de Abona port to Tenerife South Airport. However, some 30 crew members and a nurse from the Netherlands, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, have remained on the ship. It will sail to Rotterdam in the Netherlands where it will undergo disinfection, the WHO said.