Twenty Britons from a cruise ship hit by deadly hantavirus continue to be offered practical and emotional support as they isolate at a UK hospital.
All 20 British nationals from the MV Hondius, together with a German who is a UK resident – and a Japanese passenger, were taken to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral on Sunday after the ship docked in Tenerife.
Arrowe Park will house the group for three days in total before the passengers are sent home to continue isolating for a further 42 days. If people cannot go home, they will be placed in other accommodation to see out the isolation period.
It comes as the French government said a French woman evacuated from the cruise ship tested positive for hantavirus, and her health worsened overnight in hospital.
The woman was among five French passengers repatriated to France on Sunday from Tenerife. She developed symptoms on the flight to Paris, officials told the French media.
In the UK, Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the passengers in Arrowe Park would be living as normal life as possible while there.
“They’re being accommodated – if they were travelling in a family group, they’re staying in that family group – and they’ll be living as normal a life as they can whilst they’re in hospital,” he said.
“During that time, we’re going to be assessing them quite intensely to make sure that they are virus-free.
“So we’re going to be… PCR testing to look for any possibility of the virus, and also testing their serums, their blood samples. for the presence of any antibodies.”
He said each individual’s circumstance is different and people were being supported to find the best place for them to continue isolating.
He continued: “So we’re assessing on a kind of case by case basis whether their home is the best place for them, or perhaps, if they live in a very shared accommodation, it might need to be somewhere else. And we’re discussing that with them.
“It’s going to be a very long period of time. During that period we’ll be supporting very closely with ongoing testing, still checking for virus and antibodies, but also, of course, emotionally, because this is clearly not what any of them would have wished.”
He told BBC Breakfast the passengers were supported with “the day-to-day stuff… So for example, people have left many of their belongings behind so they need clothes and supplies and those kind of things and a lot of emotional support for the next period of isolation.”
He said the passengers had “been really impressive in their willingness to work with us and their willingness to continue to isolate and protect the wider public, and we’re really grateful to them for that”.
Scientists continue to work “quite intensely” on understanding more about hantavirus, Prof May said.
He told BBC Radio 4 Today’s programme: “What we’ve seen so far is the individuals who have apparently contracted it from each other have been in very close contact.
“They’ve been sharing a cabin, for example, or had extremely close contact with someone who is strongly symptomatic.
“We think the virus primarily spreads only from people who have symptoms, so the risk from someone who is asymptomatic is extremely low.
“And if you think about the cruise ship setting, you know, this is a very close living situation so perhaps an area in which spread is more likely.
“It’s not the same as most people’s private living arrangements, and it’s definitely not the same as people who might pass someone in the street, for example. So the risk there is essentially negligible.”
Public health minister Sharon Hodgson said: “I want to thank all those who have worked to bring our British nationals home and the NHS workers now caring for them at Arrowe Park Hospital – their dedication and professionalism show our NHS at its very best.
“None of the passengers are symptomatic but we will monitor them closely over the next 72 hours at the hospital, as part of a precautionary isolation period.
“With no cases or symptoms among them and our stringent monitoring and isolation measures, the risk to the public remains extremely low.”
US officials said on Sunday that an American among the 17 being flown to Nebraska from the ship tested positive for hantavirus, but has no symptoms.
Overall, three people have died linked to the outbreak. One British man with hantavirus is still being cared for in Johannesburg while another is in the Netherlands.
Another British national has hantavirus and is isolating where he lives on the remote South Atlantic Island of Tristan da Cunha.
Over the weekend, six paratroopers, an RAF consultant and an Army nurse from 16 Air Assault Brigade were parachuted on to Tristan da Cunha to help care for him.
The UK Government agreed to take the Japanese passenger from the cruise ship to Arrowe Park at the request of the Tokyo government.
That passenger will complete their isolation in the UK under the watch of the UKHSA.
Strict infection control measures were in place throughout the journey to Arrowe Park – with passengers, crew, drivers and medical teams all wearing personal protective equipment such as face masks.
The Arrowe Park site has six storeys of self-contained flats with their own bedrooms, en-suite bathrooms, kitchen and lounge facilities.
Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said on Sunday that Arrowe Park would carry out “welfare checks on each individual”.
She added: “There’s no impact on the hospital. Services are running as normal, patients should still attend their appointments.”
The hospital leader said if passengers develop symptoms, they will be taken to Royal Liverpool University Hospital, which houses the regional Tropical and Infectious Diseases Unit.
While they were being bussed from the port at Granadilla de Abona to Tenerife South Airport, some British passengers, clad in blue PPE, waved and gave thumbs up as they passed watching media.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said its goal was to finish the ship’s evacuation, with the exception of 30 crew members remaining on board, by 7pm on Monday.
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