Foreign Office officials are rushing to arrange a flight to evacuate Britons from the MV Hondius as it sails towards Tenerife.

08:13, Fri, May 8, 2026 Updated: 08:22, Fri, May 8, 2026

The MV Hondius

The MV Hondius is sailing towards Tenerife where it is set to dock (Image: Getty)

Donald Trump has attempted to ease concerns over the deadly hantavirus outbreak on board a luxury cruise ship. Three people have died after being aboard the ship during the outbreak, with the MV Hondius currently en route to the Canary Islands where passengers and crew members are set to be evacuated.

The US President said he had been briefed on the situation and in a six-word update, told reporters: “It should be fine, we hope.”

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Mr Trump said the US authorities are planning to publish a full report on Friday, adding: “A lot of great people are studying it.”

The MV Hondius was travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde after setting sail on April 1.

Donald Trump

Donald Trump said: 'It should be fine, we hope.' (Image: Getty)

Some 19 British nationals were listed as passengers, with four British crew members.

A third British national has been diagnosed with suspected hantavirus linked to the outbreak, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Friday morning.

It said two Britons have confirmed hantavirus but there is now “an additional suspected case of a British national on Tristan da Cunha”.

The patient remains on the remote South Atlantic island, while the other two British nationals remain in hospital in the Netherlands and South Africa.

Martin Anstee, 56, was taken off the MV Hondius on Wednesday and flown to the Netherlands to receive specialist medical care.

A British passenger, understood to be a 69-year-old man, was taken to a private healthcare facility in Johannesburg on April 27.

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, from the World Health Organisation (WHO), said: “I am very happy to say the patient in South Africa is doing better, and the two patients in the Netherlands we hear are stable. So that is actually very good news.”

The MV Hondius is expected to arrive in the port of Granadilla in Tenerife in the early hours of Sunday.

The Foreign Office is arranging a charter flight so that the remaining Britons on board the ship who are not displaying symptoms can be returned once the ship docks in Tenerife.

The WHO said two doctors, infectious disease experts from the agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have embarked on the ship and are conducting a medical assessment of all passengers and crew.

Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said risk to the public is low but warned there could be more cases due to the incubation period of the Andes virus – the variant of hantavirus linked to the outbreak.

Another official said the outbreak is not expected to be an epidemic.

The outbreak has been connected to a birdwatching expedition in Argentina which two of the passengers went on before boarding the ship.