British passengers from hantavirus-hit cruise ship isolating in hospital
Twenty Britons are beginning 45 days of self-isolation in the UK after being evacuated from a cruise ship hit by hantavirus.
They are isolating at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside, after their chartered flight from Tenerife landed at Manchester Airport on Sunday. They will stay there for 72 hours, before being asked to self-isolate for a further 42 days at home.
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) told the BBC that all of the evacuees are "healthy and asymptomatic".
Three people have died following the outbreak on the MV Hondius, including two whom the World Health Organization has confirmed had hantavirus.
Two British nationals, who are being treated in the Netherlands and South Africa, also have confirmed cases.
A British-US dual national is currently in quarantine in Nebraska, according to Matthew Ferreira of the US Health and Human Services department.
Meanwhile, an American and French national who returned to their home countries after leaving the ship have also tested positive for the virus, according to local authorities.
On Monday evening the final six passengers who had been still onboard disembarked from the ship, alongside some members of the crew.
The vessel then left Tenerife for the Netherlands where the last 26 crew will leave and the boat will be disinfected.
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.
SOURCE: BBC News
They are isolating at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside, after their chartered flight from Tenerife landed at Manchester Airport on Sunday. They will stay there for 72 hours, before being asked to self-isolate for a further 42 days at home.
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) told the BBC that all of the evacuees are "healthy and asymptomatic".
Three people have died following the outbreak on the MV Hondius, including two whom the World Health Organization has confirmed had hantavirus.
Two British nationals, who are being treated in the Netherlands and South Africa, also have confirmed cases.
A British-US dual national is currently in quarantine in Nebraska, according to Matthew Ferreira of the US Health and Human Services department.
Meanwhile, an American and French national who returned to their home countries after leaving the ship have also tested positive for the virus, according to local authorities.
On Monday evening the final six passengers who had been still onboard disembarked from the ship, alongside some members of the crew.
The vessel then left Tenerife for the Netherlands where the last 26 crew will leave and the boat will be disinfected.
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.
SOURCE: BBC News
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