All passengers on the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak are considered high-risk contacts as ​a precautionary measure, Europe’s public health agency said ‌ahead of the ship’s expected anchoring on Sunday off the Spanish island of Tenerife.

Passengers without symptoms will be repatriated for ​self-quarantine via specially arranged transport, not regular commercial ​flights, by their respective countries, the European Centre ⁠for Disease Prevention and Control said on Saturday ​as part of its rapid scientific advice.

Countries were preparing to evacuate their citizens from the MV Hondius around 0630-0700 GMT (11:30am-12pm PKT). Eight people have fallen ill, including three who died — a Dutch ​couple and a German national — the World Health Organisation ​said on Friday.

Six of the eight are confirmed to have contracted ‌the ⁠virus, with another two suspected cases, the WHO has said.

Although at disembarkation, passengers will be considered high-risk, not all will necessarily be considered high-risk upon return ​to their home ​countries, the ⁠ECDC said.

The agency urged symptomatic passengers to be prioritised for medical assessment and testing ​on arrival, adding they may isolate in ​Tenerife ⁠or be medically evacuated home, depending on their condition.

Usually, the virus is spread by rodents, but can, in ⁠rare ​cases, be transmitted person to person. ​Health authorities have said the risk of the virus spreading is low.

UK army in ‘daring’ parachute op to aid suspected Hantavirus patient

British military personnel carried out an airborne operation to deliver urgent medical support for a suspected Hantavirus patient on a South Atlantic island, ministers said on Sunday.

An army specialist team parachuted onto the island of Tristan da Cunha, Britain’s most remote overseas territory, a defence ministry statement said.

One of three British nationals diagnosed with suspected hantavirus linked to the outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship is on the island.

The team of six paratroopers and two military clinicians, all from the 16 Air Assault Brigade, descended from a Royal Air Force (RAF) A400M transport aircraft “in a daring parachute drop”, the statement said.

Vital oxygen supplies and other medical aid were air-dropped almost simultaneously.

The urgent response came after confirmation by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) on Friday of a suspected infection in a British national on the island.

Tristan da Cunha, a group of volcanic islands with a population of around 220 has no airstrip and is accessible only by boat.

With oxygen supplies at critically low levels, officials said an airdrop was the only viable option to deliver care in time and support the island’s two-person medical team.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper paid tribute to the armed forces for an “extraordinary operation”.

The drop involved a long-range flight of nearly 6,800 kilometres from RAF Brize Norton in central England to Ascension Island, followed by a further 3,000-kilometre flight to Tristan da Cunha, the statement said.

Earlier on Friday, the WHO said that the hantavirus outbreak posed a minimal risk to the general public.

“This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who’s really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters.