Twenty-two British passengers and crew members aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, which has been affected by a hantavirus outbreak, are expected to arrive in Tenerife on Sunday. Officials from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Foreign Office will greet the ship upon docking in the Canary Islands. The Britons will undergo testing for hantavirus before disembarking.
Those who test negative and show no symptoms will be taken directly to a dedicated repatriation flight, with the aim of returning them to the UK the same day. The flight will be staffed by medical professionals and equipped with virus testing kits, oxygen, and other medical supplies in case any passengers become ill. The ship is currently sailing from the coast off Cape Verde and is on track to dock on Sunday, weather permitting.
Most returning Britons are expected to self-isolate at home, but the UKHSA is making arrangements for alternative accommodations if necessary. Further details will be released later. Two British men are currently receiving treatment for hantavirus in the Netherlands and Johannesburg, South Africa, while a third British man exhibiting symptoms is being cared for on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha.
In total, the Foreign Office reports that 30 passengers and crew from the MV Hondius are British, with 22 still on board. Seven Britons disembarked in St Helena on April 23, and the man with suspected hantavirus left the ship at Tristan da Cunha. Two Britons who left at St Helena have returned to the UK and are self-isolating without symptoms. Four Britons remain on St Helena, and one has been traced in an undisclosed country outside the UK.
The UKHSA is tracing and contacting all individuals who had contact with British nationals who left the ship, though the number of contacts is not yet known. The Foreign Office is in daily communication with the 22 passengers and crew still on board, who currently have no symptoms. Any person developing symptoms before the ship docks would be treated in the Canary Islands. A joint Foreign Office and UKHSA team is in Tenerife to receive the passengers.
Returning Britons will not be allowed to use public transport to reach their homes for self-isolation. They will self-isolate for 45 days and conduct self-testing, with further testing after the isolation period ends. UKHSA experts are investigating the transmission of the virus, noting that previous outbreaks required close contact, with most transmission occurring when symptoms are present. Officials do not believe the current strain is more transmissible than previous ones, but studies are ongoing.
Nine confirmed cases of hantavirus have been linked to the cruise ship, including the two British men, with one additional suspected case. Of the nine, five are confirmed, and four are suspected. The remote islands of St Helena, Ascension Island, and Tristan da Cunha are located in the South Atlantic Ocean. Around 30 people left the ship when it docked in St Helena, including a Dutch woman who later died after becoming unwell during onward travel.
Three deaths have been associated with the outbreak. In a statement on Friday, the UKHSA said: "UK Government staff will be on the ground ready to support the British nationals disembarking. British passengers and ship crew not displaying any symptoms of hantavirus will be escorted by UK Government staff to an airport and given free passage back to the UK." The statement added that Foreign Office officials and UKHSA teams will continue to support all passengers and that the flight will operate under strict infection control measures.
The 69-year-old British man taken off the ship with symptoms is receiving intensive care in Sandton, Johannesburg, and is improving. Another Briton, Martin Anstee, 56, was flown to the Netherlands for specialist care and is also improving. The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported on Thursday that morale on board has improved since the ship began its journey to Tenerife. Two doctors and infectious disease experts from the WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) are conducting medical assessments of all passengers and crew.
While the risk to the public is low, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, warned that more cases could emerge due to the incubation period of the Andes virus, a variant of hantavirus, which can extend up to six weeks. The outbreak has been linked to a birdwatching expedition in Argentina that two passengers attended before boarding the ship. Spain's health secretary, Javier Padilla, reported a suspected hantavirus case in Alicante involving a passenger who was on the same plane as the patient who died in Johannesburg.
Professor Sir Peter Horby, director of the pandemic sciences institute at the University of Oxford, said: "I believe the UKHSA, Foreign Office and NHS are taking all the right and necessary measures to protect the UK citizens involved in this challenging incident and to protect the broader UK population. Repatriation and isolation is the right thing to do, morally and scientifically."
