Three new cases of hantavirus have been identified as British passengers have been quarantined at an isolation facility after their repatriation flight landed in the UK.
A French woman evacuated from a cruise ship developed symptoms on the flight to Paris and has tested positive for hantavirus, while two of the 17 American passengers evacuated from the ship and flown to Nebraska also tested positive.
It comes after officials from the Spanish Health Ministry, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions had said none of the more than 140 people who were then on the Hondius had shown symptoms of the virus.
The 20 British passengers, who were tested for hantavirus before getting on the flight on Sunday, have now been taken to isolate at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside upon their arrival at Manchester Airport.
Health officials in the UK have begun contact tracing for those in touch with the individuals evacuated from hantavirus-striken MV Hondius, announced Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UK Health Security Agency.
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Australia to quarantine six people flying home from hantavirus cruise ship
Australia is set to quarantine half a dozen passengers from the Dutch-flagged luxury cruise ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak, as carefully managed evacuations begin.
The government has declared the measures a "precautionary approach" to keep the community safe following the arrival of five Australians and one New Zealander in Perth on Monday.
Passengers were being evacuated from MV Hondius after the luxury cruise ship arrived at the Port of Granadilla near the Spanish island of Tenerife on Sunday carrying 147 people.
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Australia to quarantine six people from hantavirus cruise ship
Government to enact ‘national quarantine arrangements’ to manage outbreakRebecca Whittaker
Experts say risk to the public hasn't increased following three new cases
A French woman and two Americans tested positive for hantavirus, but experts say the level of risk to the public has not changed.
Dr Giulia Gallo, Postdoctoral Scientist in the Viral Glycoproteins Group, The Pirbright Institute, said: “It is not surprising, the general hope was that no more cases would be detected, but given that it takes a considerable amount of time for symptoms to develop, health agencies have put in place protocols to minimise the risk of transmission to the healthy passengers, and the population, in case this would happen.”
“These potentially new cases derive from the same cluster of exposed people on the ship. Monitoring and quarantining passengers and crew staff is still the best approach to ensure that the rest of the population remains unaffected by this situation.”
Watch: Army race to parachute oxygen to hantavirus patient on world’s most remote island
Experts say hantavirus cases unlikely to have started from Ushuaia trip
Health officials have said the deadly outbreak of hantavirus may have been caused by a Dutch couple contracting the illness during a bird-watching outing in Ushuaia, Argentina.
Two Argentine officials investigating the origins of the outbreak on the ship, which sailed from southern Argentina, said this is now the government’s leading hypothesis.
The couple visited a landfill site during the birdwatching tour, authorities said, where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.
However, locally not everyone agrees with this theory.
Authorities previously said that Ushuaia and the surrounding province of Tierra del Fuego had never recorded a case of the hantavirus.
Juan Facundo Petrina, the province's Director General of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, told the BBC there have been “no record of hantavirus cases in our history.”
He stressed that it is unlikely the virus came from his province and the endemic zone for hantavirus lies more than 1,500km (930 miles) to the north.
Army parachutes team onto remote island to help British suspected hantavirus case
A specialist team of army and medical personnel have been parachuted onto the British overseas territory Tristan da Cunha with medical aid and equipment after a British national showed symptoms of hantavirus.
The patient was on board the cruise ship MV Hondius, where an outbreak of the virus has killed three people, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed.
They are currently in hospital on the island where they live, the UK minister for the overseas territories, Stephen Doughty, said in a statement.
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Army parachutes team onto remote island to support Briton with suspected hantavirus
The British national had been on board the cruise ship MV Hondius now being evacuated off TenerifeRebecca Whittaker
Pictured: British nationals who were repatriated after being exposed to a hantavirus aboard an Atlantic expedition cruise ship are quarantined
A plane carrying 20 British nationals arrived at Manchester Airport on Sunday and are now being monitored at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral.
Within a 72-hour period, these passengers will receive clinical assessments and testing and will be required to isolate for 45 days.
British man hospitalised with hantavirus is 'improving'
A British man who was admitted to a hospital in Johannesburg after falling ill with hantavirus aboard a luxury cruise ship is "clinically improving," a South African health ministry spokesperson said.
"The British patient is clinically improving but still ill," the spokesperson Foster Mohale said.
"This means his condition is improving, gradually so."
Three passengers, French and American, test positive for hantavirus after cruise ship evacuation
A French woman and two Americans tested positive or showed symptoms of hantavirus.
A French woman evacuated from a cruise ship developed symptoms on the flight to Paris and has tested positive for hantavirus.
Two the 17 American passengers evacuated from the ship and flown to Nebraska also tested positive for the hantavirus. One passengers is showing mild symptoms and the other is not showing any symptoms.
It comes after officials from the Spanish Health Ministry, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions had said none of the more than 140 people who were then on the Hondius had shown symptoms of the virus.
Watch: Britons evacuated from hantavirus-hit cruise arrive in UK for isolation
'it’s going to be a very stressful period for them and their families,' experts say as Britons isolate
A plane carrying 20 British nationals arrived at Manchester Airport on Sunday and are now being monitored at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral.
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said people at Arrowe Park would be supported practically but also emotionally.
“We’ll be supporting them very closely, not just with testing, but also for the very large emotional turmoil this will obviously have – it’s going to be a very stressful period for them and their families,” he told BBC Breakfast.
He said people would be supported with “the day to day stuff… So for example, people have left many of their belongings behind so they need clothes and supplies and those kind of things and a lot of emotional support for the next period of isolation.
“And going forward from then, as they return to home or wherever else they’re going to isolate from, we will be putting steps in place to support those around them.
“But I have to say the people involved so far have been really impressive in their willingness to work with us and their willingness to continue to isolate and protect the wider public, and we’re really grateful to them for that.”