Army parachutes team on to remote British island to treat rat-virus victim in first-of-its-kind mission
On Friday it was confirmed that a British national with suspected hantavirus disembarked the ship at the remote volcanic island of Tristan da Cunha, which is where they live
An army medical team have been parachuted on to a remote British overseas island to treat a Brit who is ill with hantavirus in a groundbreaking mission.
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Six paratroopers, an RAF consultant and an Army nurse have parachuted on to Tristan da Cunha, the Ministry of Defence confirmed.
Oxygen supplies and medical aid, normally only accessible by boat, were dropped on to the remote island to treat a Brit who disembarked there from the hantavirus-virus stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius.
The MoD said it was the first time medical personnel had been parachuted in to provide humanitarian support.
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Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the safety of “all members of the British family” is the top priority.
She said: “We will continue to work closely with international authorities and the Tristan da Cunha administration, keeping those affected informed and ensuring the right support is in place in the UK and across the Overseas Territories.”
It comes as passengers are due to shortly begin disembarking the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius ship which arrived in Tenerife this morning.
Passengers will be tested before getting off the vessel before being taken to Tenerife's main airport and placed on repatriation flights back to their respective home countries if they test negative.
UKHSA said passengers will be transferred to an isolation facility at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, Merseyside, after being repatriated to the UK on a chartered flight.
The hospital was used to house British citizens returning from Wuhan, China, in January 2020 at the start of the Covid pandemic.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday there were no symptomatic passengers on board the ship.
The World Health Organisation confirmed late yesterday that there are now eight cases of hantavirus - that includes three British Nationals.
One of the other three Brits is believed to be a 69-year-old man who was taken to South Africa on 27 April and is being treated at a private health facility in Sandton, Johannesburg.
The other confirmed Brit with the virus is 56-year-old Martin Anstee who was taken off the ship on Wednesday and flown t the Netherlands for specialist care along with a Dutch crew colleague and a German passenger.
Three people have died so far after falling ill with the virus - a Dutch couple, both aged 69, and a German passenger. It is not yet confirmed whether they all died of the virus.