Stay up to date with notifications from The IndependentNotifications can be managed in browser preferences.Jump to contentThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inAllNewsSportCultureLifestyleThe UK has dispatched a rapid response mobile laboratory and a three-person support team to the remote South Atlantic islands of St Helena and Ascension. This deployment by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is in response to a hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship. The specialist team, comprising microbiologists and an infection prevention and control expert, will assist Jamestown General Hospital with testing, assessments, and training for eight weeks. Ten British residents from St Helena and Ascension, connected to the outbreak, are being repatriated to the UK as a precautionary measure for self-isolation. The hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship has resulted in at least 11 reported cases and tragically led to three deaths, with Public Health Scotland also warning of potential contacts in Scotland. In fullUK sends rapid response team to remote island after hantavirus cruise ship outbreakThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in

Suspected hantavirus patients are being flown from the British islands of St. Helena and Ascension back to the United Kingdom as a 'precaution.'

The UK has sent a rapid support team to the remote island of St Helena

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced that a three-person team from the the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST) was sent to St Helena.

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A group of experts and a rapid response mobile laboratory have been dispatched to two remote islands at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship

When the United Kingdom notified WHO on 2 May 2026 of a cluster of severe respiratory illness aboard a Dutch-flagged cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean, passengers from 23…

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UKHSA said Britons from St Helena and Ascension Island are expected to arrive in the UK on Sunday evening

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Nine UK citizens linked to the hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship have returned to Britain and are being monitored by health officials after possible exposure.