‘Not COVID’: WHO downplays threat from virus-hit cruise

Amsterdam/Geneva: Countries worldwide sought to prevent further spread of the hantavirus on Thursday, after an outbreak on a cruise ship, by tracking those who had disembarked before the virus was detected and anyone in close contact with them since.

Three people – a Dutch couple and a German national – died in the outbreak on the MV Hondius.

Five other people are confirmed to have contracted the virus, with another three suspected cases, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said. Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents, and human-to-human transmission is rare.

All passengers who disembarked in Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, where the ship made a stop on April 24, had now been contacted, the ship’s operator said. This included people from at least 12 countries, among them seven British citizens and six from the United States. The first confirmed case of hantavirus in this outbreak came in early May.

The WHO repeated that the risk to the general public was low, even if the Andean strain of the virus, found in several victims, could in rare cases be transmitted among humans.

“This is not COVID, this is not influenza,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s director for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told reporters. “This is an outbreak on a ship. We know this virus. This is not the same situation we were in six years ago.”

The WHO said it was working on step-by-step guidance for when the dozens of passengers remaining on the ship, which is sailing to the Canary Islands, arrive there on Saturday or Sunday, and disembark and travel home. None of these passengers currently has any symptoms.

The ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said on Thursday that 29 passengers had left the ship at Saint Helena, where the ship made a stop on its way to Cape Verde, before the outbreak was reported. The Dutch government earlier put that figure at about 40 people.

Oceanwide Expeditions said it was now working to establish details of all passengers and crew who embarked and disembarked on various stops since March 20.

The Dutch couple who died, and who are believed to be the first hantavirus cases of this outbreak, boarded on April 1. Dutch airline KLM said it had taken the Dutch woman off a plane in Johannesburg on April 25 due to her deteriorating medical condition. She died before she could reach the Netherlands.

According to broadcaster RTL, a KLM stewardess who had been in contact with her has been admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam after showing possible hantavirus symptoms. Crew and passengers who helped the Dutch woman who passed away are being called daily for health checks, Dutch authorities told public broadcaster NOS.

Three patients were evacuated from the ship on Wednesday. Two have been admitted to a hospital in the Netherlands, while another was transferred to Germany for medical care.

Four Australians were on board the ship, though their identities have not been disclosed. An Australian was among those who left the ship at Saint Helena and returned home, according to a Spanish passenger.

In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was aware that Australians were on the ship but was not aware of any being affected by the outbreak.

Martin Anstee, an expedition guide, was one of the two evacuees in hospital in the Netherlands, according to Sky News, and told them he was “doing okay” but “there are still lots of tests to be done”.

The Duesseldorf University Clinic, treating the German evacuee, said she was not a confirmed case but rather a contact and was undergoing tests.

In Switzerland, a man who travelled on the cruise ship and was admitted to a hospital tested positive for the infection, officials said.

A Danish citizen who was aboard the Hondius has returned home and has been advised to self-isolate as a precaution, Danish health authorities said.

One French citizen had been in contact with a person who had fallen ill but was not showing symptoms, officials said.

In America, authorities said they were monitoring a number of asymptomatic residents ​who had returned ⁠home after disembarking.

In Canada, officials said two residents on the cruise returned home before the outbreak was identified and another was on the same flight as a symptomatic person. All three were currently asymptomatic.

Singapore said it had isolated two men, aged 67 and 65, who had been on the ship. “One has a runny nose but is otherwise well, and the other is asymptomatic,” Singapore’s Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said. The test results for hantavirus are pending.

Argentina’s Health Ministry has said it will carry out rodent trapping and analysis in the southern city of Ushuaia, the origin point of the cruise ship.

Reuters

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