Twenty-two people set to leave hospital after hantavirus isolation

Twenty-two people evacuated from a cruise ship after a hantavirus outbreak are set to start leaving a Liverpool hospital where they have been isolating since returning to the UK.

The passengers and crew who were on board the MV Hondius will have spent 72-hours isolating at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside and will be expected to isolate for another 42 days at home.

They include 20 British nationals, a German national who is a UK resident and a Japanese passenger.

Ten other passengers and crew members are being brought to the UK from British territories in the south Atlantic, Saint Helena and Ascension Islands, as a precaution.

The 10 people are being moved because the NHS in England was "well equipped to respond if they become unwell", the UKHSA said.

Earlier this week, Prof Robin May, chief scientific officer at UKHSA, said those at the hospital were "healthy and asymptomatic".

They have been staying in flats, with food and other essentials provided, alongside ongoing care from UKHSA and NHS teams.

Public health and infectious disease specialists will assess whether the individuals are able to self-isolate at home, or whether another location should be arranged.

"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," May said.

Since the outbreak, three people have died with two confirmed to have had the virus. This included an elderly Dutch man who died before being tested, his wife and a German woman.

Director-general of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that while "there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak", work to contain it was not over as "it's possible we might see more cases".

The Dutch MV Hondius had 87 passengers and 60 crew members on board when it docked in Spain's Canary Islands last week, according to the ship's operator Oceanwide Expeditions.

Two British nationals have also returned home on repatriation flights to the US, while another British national is due to return to Australia, the UKHSA said.

Another two British nationals who have been confirmed to have hantavirus are being treated in the Netherlands and South Africa.

Meanwhile, a British man with suspected hantavirus on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, is in a stable condition and in isolation.

Two more Britons are continuing to voluntarily self-isolate at home in the UK, having disembarked the vessel at St Helena on 24 April alongside dozens of other passengers before the first case of hantavirus was confirmed.

MV Hondius began its journey on 1 April in Ushuaia, Argentina, with about 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries reported to have initially been onboard.

The ship's operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said on Monday that all guests who were still on board when the outbreak was confirmed have now been repatriated to their home countries.