The 22 passengers evacuated from a hantavirus-hit cruise ship have arrived on Merseyside to isolate in a hospital block last used to quarantine Britons who travelled back from China at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Built to house medical students and NHS key workers, the site at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral was last used as an isolation facility at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Health authorities in the region said a "genuinely herculean effort" was needed to prepare the site, where the passengers from the MV Hondius will be monitored before they can be released to isolate at home.

The 800-bed hospital, one of the larger acute sites in the North West, sits across a 15-acre site in Merseyside on the Wirral Penninsula.

Each of the 22 passengers - none displaying any of the symptoms of the virus - are staying inside the multi-storey accommodating block known as the Frontis building.

It was built in 2006 to house medical student training at Arrowe Park, and is close to the A&E entrance at the hospital in a fenced-off area.

In a statement the hospital said staff had to get the site "ready at pace" for the passengers.

The passengers, including 20 British people, a German and a Japanese national, were transferred to Arrowe Park to be monitored by specialists, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

The decision to use the site had been " planned, controlled and carefully managed", a group of North West NHS bodies that also includes Merseyside Police and Wirral Council, said in a joint statement.

Matthew Patrick, the Labour MP for Wirral West, said medical experts advised use of the block because it was "ideal for isolating" and is close to specialist facilities in Liverpool.

These include the Royal Liverpool University Hospital's regional adult Tropical and Infectious Diseases Unit (TIDU) and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine.

The convoy of coaches seen transporting passengers from the MV Hondius was reminiscent of the scene in 2020 when more than 80 people were taken to Arrowe Park after being evacuated from China.

It was the first quarantine site set up in the UK since 1978, when a small pox outbreak saw Catherine-de-Barnes Hospital in Solihull used to isolated cases.

Those arriving at Arrowe Park were offered gifts of cake, flowers, wine and toys by local people during their time quarantine in the apartments.

But residents living nearby raised concerns at the time of hosting potential carries of coronavirus so close to home.

The passengers have been taken to isolate there until Wednesday, and will stay in flats described as having a "typical study room plan, with panoramic views over Arrowe Park itself and to the Irish Sea coast beyond".

A group of specialists will look after them during their 72-hour isolation, and provide food and other essentials, an NHS spokesperson said.

During this time they will also be assessed by doctors at the site, before a decision is taken over whether they can isolate for up to 45 days at home or another location.

"Strict infection control measures" like use of PPE will be in place, and apply to all medical teams, drivers and other staff at the site, the NHS spoksperson added.

Health bosses have been keen to stress that the quarantine will not have any affect on the operation of the main hospital.

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has said planned services are "going ahead as usual" and Arrowe Park is operating normally.

Patients have been told to go to their appointments as normal.

The trust in charge at the hospital has stressed there is "no risk to patients, visitors or staff" and the site which was separated off from the main facilities.

In a statement they said: "We want to reassure the public, and particularly those who live and work in Wirral, that the risk to the general public remains very low.

"The UK Health Security Agency has confirmed this clearly.

"The guests arriving at Arrowe Park are not displaying any symptoms of hantavirus and are isolating here purely as a precaution. This is a planned, controlled and carefully managed arrangement.

"Hantavirus is not spread through everyday social contact and there is no reason for local residents to be concerned."

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Five passengers of the MV Hondius will be quarantined in Paris "until further notice", France's prime minister says.

The BBC reports from the city of Ushuaia, where experts have been sent to investigate the origins of the outbreak.

Spanish passengers are the first to leave the MV Hondius, after an outbreak saw three people die and several infected.

"This is not another Covid," Tedros Ghebreyesus tells islanders before MV Hondius docks on Sunday.

The MV Hondius is expected to dock in the Canary Islands this weekend.