British Army medics have parachuted onto Tristan da Cunha, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic, to treat a British man with suspected hantavirus. The man had been a passenger on the MV Hondius, a Dutch cruise ship at the centre of a deadly outbreak of the virus. He disembarked on 14 April and lives on the island permanently. He reported symptoms of diarrhoea on 28 April and developed a fever two days later. He is currently in a stable condition and in isolation.
As reported by the BBC, a team of six paratroopers and two medical clinicians from 16 Air Assault Brigade carried out the operation. Two of the paratroopers jumped in tandem with an intensive care nurse and an intensive care doctor. The RAF flew an A400M transport aircraft supported by an RAF Voyager from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to Ascension Island before continuing to Tristan da Cunha. Oxygen and 3.3 tonnes of medical supplies were also dropped onto the island as supplies had reached a critical level.
