Two Britons evacuated from hantavirus-hit ship ‘improving’ in hospital

Two Britons who were medically evacuated from the hantavirus -hit cruise ship are improving, global health officials have said. A British passenger, understood to be a 69-year-old man, was taken to South Africa on 27 April and is receiving care at a private health facility in Sandton, Johannesburg. Another Briton, Martin Anstee, 56, an expedition guide, was taken off the MV Hondius on Wednesday and flown to the Netherlands to receive specialist medical care. Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, from the World Health Organization (WHO), said two patients – known to include a Briton – remained in hospital in the Netherlands and another Briton was in intensive care in South Africa. The private health facility in Johannesburg, South Africa, where a British man, 69, is being treated. Photograph: Thando Hlophe/Reuters She told a WHO press briefing: “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.” As of Thursday there are eight suspected cases, five confirmed by lab tests as hantavirus, a rare family of viruses carried by rodents. The outbreak, linked to three deaths, has been connected to a birdwatching trip to Argentina , Chile and Uruguay that two of the passengers went on before boarding the ship. …