UK to isolate hantavirus-hit cruise ship passengers in ex-Covid hospital on return

British health authorities are preparing to receive around two dozen passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius, with plans to isolate them at a hospital previously used during the Covid-19 pandemic, officials said on Saturday.

The Dutch-flagged vessel, carrying nearly 150 passengers and crew, is expected to anchor off Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands early Sunday after weeks at sea amid an outbreak that has already claimed three lives.

Most people on board are expected to be evacuated and flown back to their home countries under a coordinated international repatriation operation involving European authorities and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Among those returning to Britain are about 24 British passengers and crew members, along with two Irish nationals. Officials said none of them are currently showing symptoms of hantavirus infection.

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“In line with advice from the UK Health Security Agency, on arrival they will be taken to a managed setting for clinical assessment and testing,” NHS England North West and NHS Cheshire said in a joint statement issued with Wirral Council and local emergency services.

Authorities said the group would initially remain under observation for 72 hours, after which further isolation arrangements would be reviewed depending on medical assessments.

An internal email shared with AFP confirmed the group of about 24 people would be taken to Arrowe Park Hospital in northwestern Wirral. It was used to isolate people returning from Wuhan in China and the cruise ship Diamond Princess at the start of the 2020 Covid pandemic.

Since the start of the outbreak, three passengers from the ship -- a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman -- have died. Others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.

The WHO said Friday it had confirmed six cases out of eight suspected ones. There are no suspected cases remaining on the ship.

The MV Hondius is sailing from Cape Verde, where three infected people had already been evacuated earlier in the week.

It was expected to arrive in Tenerife between 0300 and 0500 GMT Sunday, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia Gomez said.

"We will be welcoming the guests on Sunday 10 May 2026 and they will all be screened for symptoms before they arrive on-site; nobody showing any symptoms will be transferred here," said Janelle Holmes, chief executive for Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, in her email to staff.

"The risk to the general population remains very low and the public can be reassured that established infection control measures will be put in place at every step of the journey," she added.

Irish officials are also finalising plans to send a plane to repatriate two Irish nationals, radio and television station RTE said.

With inputs from agencies