Hunt for Tube hero who gave blind man his shoes after he lost one through the gap The hunt is on find an ‘absolute hero’

Get you up to speed: British tourist quarantined in Milan after exposure to hantavirus outbreak

A British tourist in his 60s has been detained and quarantined in Milan after being on the same flight as Mirjam Schilperoord, a hantavirus-stricken passenger from the MV Hondius. The unnamed individual and his companion were taken to Sacco Hospital and are required to remain in quarantine until June 6.

A British tourist in his 60s has been quarantined at Sacco Hospital after being detained in Milan; he had travelled on the same flight as the hantavirus-stricken Mirjam Schilperoord, according to local authorities. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation, stated there are “no signs” of a pandemic, although he acknowledged that the situation could change due to the long incubation period of the virus.

The unnamed British tourist and his travelling companion will remain in quarantine at Sacco Hospital until June 6, completing a 42-day isolation period. Meanwhile, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organisation has indicated that additional hantavirus cases may emerge in the coming weeks due to the long incubation period of the virus.

Hantavirus Brit, in 60s, found in Italian bar instead of in quarantine | News World

British tourist quarantined in Milan after exposure to hantavirus outbreak
A passenger is sprayed after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius
(Credits: AP)

A British tourist has been detained by authorities and quarantined after being caught in a Milan bar.

The Brit, in his 60s, had been on the same flight as hantavirus-stricken cruise ship passenger Mirjam Schilperoord, 69, when they travelled from Saint Helena to Johannesburg.

She was the wife of patient zero Leo Schilperoord, 70, who boarded the MV Hondius and made the trip to the rubbish tip on a remote Argentinan island.

She was taken off her next flight when she fell ill and died in a South African hospital.

The unnamed British holidaymaker and his travelling companion, who was not on the flight, were apprehended in Milan before being taken to Sacco Hospital.

The pair, who were not showing symptoms, were told they must remain in quarantine until June 6, after being forced into a 42-day isolation period.

Sign up for all of the latest stories

It came after a French hantavirus patient was fighting for her life in hospital after being placed on an artificial lung.

Doctors described the device keeping her alive as ‘the final stage of supportive care.’

epa12947354 MV Hondius is seen while Spain's Ministers for Health Monica Garcia (C), Minister for Territorial Policy Angel Victor Torres (L) and Spanish Minister of Interior Fernando Grande-Marlaska (R) address a press conference at the port in Granadilla de Abona, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 11 May 2026, to provide updates on the evacuation of passengers from the MV Hondius after a hantavirus outbreak forced authorities to evacuate passengers and return them to their home countries for quarantine. EPA/Miguel Barreto
MV Hondius is seen while Spain’s Minister provide updates on the evacuation (Picture: EPA)

They added the passenger is suffering a severe form of the virus, ‘triggering life-threatening lung and heart failure’.

There are now 11 reported cases tied to the outbreak, nine of which have been confirmed. Three people who were aboard the cruise ship sailing the Atlantic Ocean have died of the rare but fatal disease.

One of the world’s leading health experts has warned that we can expect more hantavirus cases in the near future.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organisation, maintains there are ‘no signs’ a pandemic is on the cards after cases of the rodent-borne disease were identified on the MV Hondius cruise ship last month.

But he told a press conference in Madrid: ‘Of course, the situation could change.

‘And given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks.’

The Dutch cruise ship m/v Hondius is anchored in the port of Tenerife.
The MV Hondius has only a few crew and medical workers onboard now (Picture: ANP/Shutterstock)

What is hantavirus?

A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A cabin inside the MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain’s port of Tenerife (Picture: AP)

Hantavirus, sometimes called the ‘rat virus’, is a rare family of pathogens carried by rodents – there is no vaccine or cure.

The virus spreads through contact with the faeces, urine and saliva of infected rodents.

Early symptoms can be easily mistaken for the flu, such as fever, chills or body aches, but can escalate to heart or lung failure.

At the centre of the cruise outbreak is the Andes strain, which is endemic to South America, including Argentina, where the ship departed on April 1.

Dr Stathis Giotis, a lecturer in life sciences at the University of Essex, told WTX that the Andes hantavirus is the only known strain that can be spread from human to human, though cases of this are few and far between.

‘It is clearly a serious situation for those directly affected and it deserves careful public health follow-up, but there is no evidence at present that this represents a broader epidemic threat,’ he said.

People who may get in contact with rat droppings, like agricultural workers or people simply cleaning their sheds, are at high risk.

Black rat droppings in the corner of the house wall. The concept of the dangers of diseases transmitted by rat droppings, such as typhus
Rat droppings look like this and can carry hantavirus (Picture: Getty Images)

Hantavirus is still a mystery

Despite years of research, many questions have yet to be answered about the hantavirus, including exactly how it spreads, how long it can survive outside a host and why it can be mild for some people and severe for others.

There is no specific treatment or cure, but early medical attention can increase the chance of survival. The Andes virus implicated in the cruise ship outbreak can have an incubation period of up to eight weeks and a mortality rate of up to 50%, according to the World Health Organization.

The virus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people, though the Andes virus may be able to spread between people in rare cases.

The genome of the hantavirus has been completely sequenced, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said Wednesday.

‘There is no data to suggest that this virus is behaving differently in terms of transmissibility or severity from any of the known virus circulating in certain regions of the world,’ said Andreas Hoefer, who oversees the operational coordination of the European Union’s reference laboratories for public health.

‘Based on that data, I would say that currently we have no reason to suspect that this is a new virus’.

Comment now

Comments

Add WTX as a Preferred Source on Google

Add as preferred source

‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents

A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.

Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.

She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.

In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.

“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”

She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.

McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”

She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”

At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.

McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.

The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.

But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.

The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.

Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.

It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.

Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.

“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”

She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/virginia-mccullough-arrest-video-murder-parents-chelmsford-b2627978.html

Sarah Wilkinson
Sarah Wilkinson@swilkinsonbc
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says @MahaGaza : the real number exceeds 400,000
Carol Voderman
Carol Voderman@carolvorders
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate Or far far worse
Zarah Sultana
Zarah Sultana@ZarahSultana
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs. To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.

Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.

The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.

During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.

Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.

Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.

Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.

Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.

The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.

At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.

“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.

The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.

It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.

The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.

Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.

What to Watch

Amazon prime - TV & Netflix

We give you the best picks to binge on this week.

What to Watch

Love Sports

Get your pizza ordered with the latest Live Sports schedule.
Leave A Reply