Britons on virus-hit cruise ship to isolate at hospital after being flown to UK

British passengers and staff aboard a cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak will be brought to a UK hospital to isolate.

Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral was notably used as the UK's quarantine site at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The MV Hondius is expected to dock in the Canary Islands this weekend, with the remaining 22 Britons on board due to fly home on a charter flight soon after.

Five cases of hantavirus have so far been confirmed, including one of the three passengers who have died during a cruise on the Dutch vessel.

Two British men with confirmed cases of the disease are receiving treatment in the Netherlands and South Africa, while a third Briton is being treated for a suspected case on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, where the ship stopped in mid-April.

A joint statement has been issued by NHS England North West, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board, Merseyside Police, North West Ambulance Service and Wirral Council.

It read: "In line with advice from the UK Health Security Agency, on arrival they will be taken to a managed setting for clinical assessment and testing.

"We expect this initial stay to be up to 72 hours."