SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN - British Army medics have parachuted onto the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha to help a British national with suspected hantavirus.

The man left MV Hondius, the cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak of the virus, in mid-April at Britain's most remote inhabited overseas territory, where he lives. He first reported symptoms two weeks after leaving the vessel and is said to be in a stable condition while isolating. Six cases of the virus have now been confirmed, including two other Britons currently being treated off the ship. Oxygen was also dropped from an RAF A400M on Saturday, with supplies at a "critical level" on the island, the Ministry of Defence said.
Almost a month after the first death onboard the MV Hondius, the vessel has now arrived in Tenerife, where authorities are helping more than 100 people disembark to be repatriated. Three people have died in the outbreak, including two who were confirmed to have had hantavirus. Hantavirus is a group of viruses carried by rodents. Most hantaviruses do not pass from person to person, but the Andes strain, identified in a number of people who had been on the Dutch cruise ship, does. The British man who lives on Tristan da Cunha disembarked on 14 April, the World Health Organization said. (BBC)