Hantavirus: Third British national infected on cruise ship

Previously, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said two British nationals have confirmed hantavirus but there is now “an additional suspected case of a British national on Tristan da Cunha”.

The other two British nationals remain in hospital in the Netherlands and South Africa.

A total of 29 people left the cruise ship MV Hondius, including seven Britons, when it docked in St Helena on April 24, including a Dutch woman who became unwell during onward travel and died.

Three people in total have died linked to an outbreak of hantavirus on the cruise ship.

The UKHSA said none of the British citizens on board the ship, which is now travelling to Tenerife, is currently reporting symptoms but they are being closely monitored.

The UKHSA added: “UK Government staff will be on the ground ready to support the British nationals disembarking.

“British passengers and ship crew not displaying any symptoms of hantavirus will be escorted by UK Government staff to an airport and given free passage back to the UK.”

All British passengers and crew from the ship are being asked to isolate for 45 days upon returning to the UK, with close monitoring by UKHSA officials.

It has already emerged that two Britons are currently self-isolating at home in the UK after they left the ship.

The two flew back to the UK via Johannesburg after disembarking in St Helena.

Four Britons in total remain on the South Atlantic remote islands. A seventh individual has been traced outside the UK.

Some 19 British nationals in total were listed as passengers on the MV Hondius, which was sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde, with four British crew members.

A 69-year-old British man who was taken off the ship with symptoms is currently receiving intensive care treatment at a private health facility in Sandton, Johannesburg.

Another Briton, Martin Anstee, 56, was taken off the ship on Wednesday and flown to the Netherlands to receive specialist medical care.

Professor Andrew Pollard of the University of Oxford (Image: University of Oxford)

Sir Andrew, director of the Oxford vaccine group, said: “The Andes virus, which has been identified as the variant behind the outbreak, is known very rarely to spread between people with close contact.

“It means it is very easy to isolate people who are unwell and to follow quarantine and so on to avoid spread to other people.”

Asked about the two British passengers who have returned to the UK, Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UKHSA, said on Thursday that contact tracing is happening for anyone who may have sat next to them on the flight home.

The outbreak has been connected to a birdwatching expedition in Argentina which two of the passengers went on before boarding the ship.