UK Travelers from Hantavirus-Affected Ship Required to Undergo 45-Day Isolation Upon Return

British passengers aboard a cruise ship experiencing a deadly hantavirus outbreak will be advised to self-isolate for 45 days upon their return to the UK, according to a health official. This comes as two passengers who disembarked the vessel are currently isolating at their homes in Britain.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reports that neither of the two Britons who left the MV Hondius at Saint Helena in late April are showing any symptoms of the virus.

A British crew member who fell ill was airlifted from the ship and transported to the Netherlands for specialized medical treatment. The Foreign Office is organizing a charter flight to bring back other British nationals aboard the ship who are asymptomatic, with plans to repatriate them once the vessel docks in Tenerife in the upcoming days.

Since April 11, three fatalities have been reported on the MV Hondius. As of Thursday, there are eight suspected cases of hantavirus, three of which have been confirmed through laboratory testing. Hantavirus is a rare virus family typically carried by rodents, as noted by the World Health Organization (WHO).

“It’s important to reassure the public that the risk remains very low,” stated Dr. Meera Chand, deputy director for epidemic and emerging infections at the UKHSA.

Dr. Chand further explained, “We are implementing measures to support, isolate, and monitor British nationals returning from the ship. Additionally, we are tracing contacts of anyone who might have been exposed to the virus to minimize the risk of further transmission.”

It is understood 19 British nationals were listed among the 150 passengers on the cruise, which was sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde, with four British crew members. The outbreak has been linked to a birdwatching expedition in Argentina joined by two passengers before they boarded the ship.

Officials in Argentina, from where the cruise departed, are scrambling to determine if the country was the source of the deadly outbreak. The Latin American country, which has reported 101 hantavirus infections since June 2025, is consistently ranked by the WHO as having the highest incidence of the rare, rodent-borne disease.

The UKHSA has said that once the ship docks in Tenerife, the remaining British nationals can be repatriated if they do not develop symptoms. It said that none of the British nationals onboard were reporting symptoms, but that they were being closely monitored.

Spain’s health minister, Mónica García, said on Wednesday that none of the passengers still onboard the ship were presenting symptoms of the disease and that they would be repatriated to their countries. The 14 Spaniards onboard would be flown to a hospital in Madrid to quarantine, she said.

On Monday, South African officials said a British man was in critical condition with the virus and receiving private care in Johannesburg.

About 40 passengers are believed to have disembarked the ship on the south Atlantic island of Saint Helena after the first passenger died, according to Dutch officials. Seven British nationals were among those who ledt the ship at Saint Helena, according to operator Oceanwide Expeditions.

A flight attendant for the KLM airline showing mild symptoms was being tested for the virus and being admitted to hospital in Amsterdam, a Dutch health ministry spokesperson said.

Among the three individuals medically evacuated from the ship on Wednesday was Martin Anstee, a British crew member. The expedition guide and former police officer was flown to the Netherlands and spoke from hospital, saying: “I’m doing OK. I’m not feeling too bad. There are still lots of tests to be done.”

It was a “good sign” Anstee was able to communicate with family, said Prof Robin May, the chief scientific officer at the UKHSA, adding that he would be under investigations for some time. May also told BBC Breakfast on Thursday that the two British nationals who had left the cruise earlier on its course had returned to the UK before the outbreak was detected.

“There’s a chance they may have been exposed to the virus, so we have been in contact with them. They have agreed very kindly to self-isolate for the next period of time,” said May, who said the same process would apply to other British nationals onboard, who he suggested would be asked to self-isolate, most likely at home, for 45 days.

May said hantaviruses as a group were widespread across the world. The viruses naturally infect rodents and are “occasionally” transmitted to humans, according to the WHO, through contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings or saliva.

A focus is Andes hantavirus, which has shown evidence of limited human-to-human transmission in the past among close contacts, according to the WHO. Found in South America, it can cause a severe and often fatal lung disease called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. The viruses are also found in Europe and Asia, and can cause haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome.

May said the Andes virus strain had been studied intently because it was “such a severe disease”, and that there were global efforts to develop vaccines against it. “This is not a virus that spreads easily between humans,” he added, but given it could spread between individuals, “we are contact tracing everyone who might have been in close contact.”

He said: “We will continue to support them and their families whilst they self-isolate, probably at home, but obviously depends very much on the individual circumstances, depending on where they live and who they live with, as to what the most appropriate mechanism is for them to self-isolate for the next 45 days.”