All 22 Britons on the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius were due to be airlifted today from the Canary Islands to quarantine in the UK.
They will be transferred to Arrowe Park Hospital on The Wirral, Merseyside, the centre used to isolate travellers returning from Wuhan in China at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The site became known as ‘Camp Corona’ in 2020 when Britons evacuated from China at the start of the coronavirus outbreak were held there in quarantine.
Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said anybody who became unwell would be quickly transferred to another facility. None of the Britons due to arrive have reported symptoms of the virus.
The Hondius was set to anchor off Tenerife on Sunday, amid protests from island residents that their own safety could be compromised by the stricken vessel.
Foreign Office officials and health experts will meet the 19 British passengers and three crew, who are expected to be tested on board before disembarking.
If people test negative and are not displaying symptoms, they will be taken straight to a dedicated repatriation flight.
Other countries arranging flights for affected passengers include the US, Germany, France, Belgium and Ireland.
Pictured: A woman in a protective suit on a coach containing British citizens flown out of Wuhan arrives at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral during the Covid pandemic in 2020
Pictured: A block of apartments in Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, where British citizens flown out of Wuhan following the outbreak of the coronavirus were quarantined
The outbreak is the first person-to-person infection reported aboard a ship.
Six confirmed cases have been linked to the Hondius and three passengers have died.
The Britons will be expected to isolate for 45 days on their return. A joint statement by health authorities in the North West read: ‘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. Following this, public health specialists will assess whether they can isolate at home or at another suitable location.’
So far two British passengers on the Hondius are suspected of contracting hantavirus.
They are 56-year-old retired police officer Martin Anstee, who is in a stable condition in the Netherlands, and an unnamed 69-year-old who remains in intensive care in South Africa.
Arrowe Park Hospital previously housed dozens of Britons evacuated from Wuhan at the beginning of the Covid pandemic in January 2020.
Five coaches carrying 83 British nationals escorted by police motorbikes arrived at the Merseyside hospital after they were flown home from China aboard a Wamos Air Boeing 747.
An aerial view of an ambulance boat carrying crew members wearing hazmat suits as they approach the pilot door on the starboard side of the cruise ship MV Hondius
At the time, those quarantined were kept in a block of apartments on the hospital site and underwent testing before eventually being allowed to leave after completing isolation.
The facility later became nicknamed ‘Camp Corona’ during the early days of the pandemic.
Previous reports from inside the quarantine centre claimed some evacuees threatened to leave unless they were provided with better food and alcohol.
One security guard alleged the site had been stocked with beer, wine, and spirits after complaints from residents, while another claimed one quarantined patient threatened to ‘break out’ after becoming drunk.
The government later introduced emergency legal powers making it an offence for anyone in coronavirus quarantine to leave isolation before being cleared by doctors.
