Passengers from a Hantavirus-infected cruise ship are isolating on Merseyside.
The 22 British nationals will begin the first part of their 45 days’ self-isolation at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral after being evacuated from the MV Hondius.
A chartered flight brought the passengers from the Canary Islands to Manchester Airport on Sunday (May 10) before being taken by coach to the healthcare block.
All passengers were described as being healthy and asymptomatic from the virus which has killed three people who were aboard the ship which docked in Tenerife.
The World Health Organisation confirmed that eight people no longer on the ship have fallen ill with six of them have contracted the virus including two UK natives.
Arrowe Park’s hospital block, built to house medical student training, was previously used as an isolation facility in January 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
More than 80 people were taken to the quarantine site after being repatriated from China, where the coronavirus had originated in the city of Wuhan.
Unlike Covid, the Hantavirus is not as easily transmissable with cases from person-to-person infection proving incredibly rare.
All passengers will receive clinical assessments and testing within 72 hours of arrival at the isolation facility, which has six floors of self-contained flats.
Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, insisted it would not impact Arrowe Park’s day-to-day operations.
She said: “There’s nobody being transferred to us that has been symptomatic in any way.
“There’s no impact on the hospital. Services are running as normal, patients should still attend their appointments.”