UK Sends Military Medical Team to Tristan da Cunha After Suspected Hantavirus Case Linked to Cruise Ship Outbreak

A British national living on Tristan da Cunha who disembarked from the MV Hondius cruise ship on 14 April reported diarrhoea on 28 April and fever on 30 April, becoming one of two suspected hantavirus cases tied to a deadly outbreak aboard the vessel.

The man remains in stable condition and is isolating, the BBC reported. Six cases of hantavirus have been confirmed, including two other British nationals now being treated in the Netherlands and South Africa.

Three people have died in the outbreak, two of them confirmed to have had the virus. Almost a month after the first death on board, the MV Hondius arrived in Tenerife, where plans are under way to bring more than 100 people ashore for repatriation. The remaining 22 British passengers from the ship are due to fly home from Tenerife on a charter flight.

They will be taken directly to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, Merseyside, to isolate for 45 days under monitoring by the UK Health Security Agency. No other British nationals remaining on the MV Hondius are reporting symptoms. Two Britons who disembarked the vessel at St Helena on 24 April have voluntarily self-isolated at home in the UK.

British nationals from the ship face a 45-day isolation period under UKHSA monitoring upon return, the agency said. The risk to the general public remains very low, according to the Ministry of Defence. Hantavirus is a group of viruses carried by rodents.

Most strains do not pass from person to person, but the Andes strain, identified in a number of people who had been on the Dutch cruise ship, does. In response to the suspected case on Tristan da Cunha, a team of eight personnel from 16 Air Assault Brigade parachuted onto the island on Saturday.

The team consisted of six paratroopers and two military clinicians — an intensive care nurse and an intensive care doctor.

Two of the paratroopers jumped in tandem with the clinicians. The personnel flew from RAF Brize Norton in an RAF A400M that was mid-air refuelled over the Atlantic by an RAF Voyager. The flight covered 6,788 kilometres to Ascension Island before continuing more than 3,000 kilometres to Tristan da Cunha.

Oxygen supplies and medical equipment were dropped onto the island simultaneously with the personnel. Oxygen reserves on Tristan da Cunha had reached critical levels. The island, which has a population of 221, has no airstrip and can only be reached by boat.

Average wind speeds there are often over 25 mph. The territory usually has a two-person medical team. This was the first time the UK military has parachuted medical personnel for humanitarian support, the Ministry of Defence said.

The operation was conducted by personnel from 16 Air Assault Brigade. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "This extraordinary operation reflects our unwavering commitment to the people of our Overseas Territories and to British nationals, wherever they are.