UKHSA Says 22 Evacuees Will Leave Arrowe Park Hospitals
Twenty-two people evacuated from the MV Hondius are set to begin leaving Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral after 72 hours in isolation at the hospitals. The group will still need to isolate at home for another 42 days, while public health and infectious disease specialists assess whether any should isolate somewhere else.
Arrowe Park Hospital
The 22 include 20 British nationals, a German national who is a UK resident, and a Japanese passenger. Prof Robin May, the chief scientific officer at UKHSA, said earlier this week that the people at the hospital were "healthy and asymptomatic".
They have been staying in flats with food and other essentials provided. The move out of hospital marks the first step in a longer restriction period, not the end of it, because the return home still comes with 42 more days of isolation.
MV Hondius Outbreak
The cruise ship left Ushuaia, Argentina, on 1 April and later docked in Spain's Canary Islands last week. It had 87 passengers and 60 crew members on board, drawn from 28 countries. Three people have died since the outbreak, including an elderly Dutch man who died before being tested, his wife, and a German woman.
Two of the deaths were confirmed to have had the virus. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday that "there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak" and added that "it's possible we might see more cases".
UKHSA And NHS Response
Ten other passengers and crew members are being brought to the UK from Saint Helena and Ascension Islands as a precaution. UKHSA said the NHS in England was well equipped to respond if those 10 people become unwell.
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". Two British nationals have already returned home on repatriation flights to the US, another British national is due to return to Australia, and two more Britons who left the ship at St Helena on 24 April are self-isolating at home in the UK.
The 22 leaving Arrowe Park now face the same practical step as the earlier evacuees: getting through the first 72 hours under medical isolation, then completing the 42-day period at home under public health oversight.
