Some of the passengers and crew who were quarantined at a Merseyside hospital following a hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship are set to be discharged on Wednesday, after completing 72 hours of isolation — though they will be required to remain at home for a further 42 days.
Those held at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral include 20 British nationals, a German national resident in the UK, and a Japanese passenger, all of whom were aboard the Dutch expedition vessel MV Hondius when the outbreak was confirmed. Not everyone eligible to leave will do so, however. It is understood that some individuals will remain at the hospital because their home circumstances — including living with others or in blocks of flats — make suitable self-isolation impractical. The precise number expected to be discharged on Wednesday has not been confirmed.
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UK Health Security Agency, said earlier this week that those being held at Arrowe Park were “healthy and asymptomatic,” having been housed in onsite flats with food, essential supplies and continuous care from UKHSA and NHS teams. “We want to reassure both passengers and the wider public that robust arrangements are in place, and that everyone involved will be looked after every step of the way,” he said. Public health specialists will assess each individual case before a decision is made on whether home isolation or an alternative location is more appropriate.
A further ten passengers and crew, along with individuals linked to them, are being brought to the UK from the British overseas territories of Saint Helena and Ascension Island as a precautionary measure. The UKHSA said the transfers were being made because the NHS in England was “well equipped to respond if they become unwell.”
The outbreak has now claimed three lives. Two deaths have been confirmed as directly linked to hantavirus — an elderly Dutch woman and a German female passenger — while an elderly Dutch man died before testing could be completed. Two British nationals confirmed to have contracted the virus are currently receiving treatment in the Netherlands and South Africa respectively, while a further Briton on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha with suspected hantavirus remains in a stable condition in isolation.
The international reach of the outbreak has prompted additional precautionary measures beyond the UK. A British man in his 60s is being held in isolation at Sacco Hospital in Milan after it emerged he had travelled on a flight to Johannesburg in late April, seated a few rows from a Dutch woman who later died of the virus. He has tested negative and has no symptoms but will remain in quarantine until 6 June. He had spent several days each in Rome, Florence and Venice before being traced and placed in isolation.
The MV Hondius departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on 1 April carrying approximately 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries. The ship docked in Spain’s Canary Islands last week with 87 passengers and 60 crew members still on board, according to its operator Oceanwide Expeditions. The company confirmed on Monday that all remaining guests had since been repatriated to their home countries. The vessel is now making its way to the Netherlands carrying 25 crew members and two medical professionals, along with the body of a German passenger who died during the outbreak.
The World Health Organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Tuesday that there was “no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,” but cautioned that containment efforts were ongoing and that further cases remained possible.
