Authorities have announced new cases of hantavirus as countries rush to bring home passengers from a cruise ship impacted by an outbreak, instituting quarantines or isolations as necessary.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A French woman and two American citizens have tested positive or are exhibiting symptoms of hantavirus. This development comes as nations worldwide hasten to repatriate individuals from a cruise ship that faced an outbreak, implementing measures to quarantine or isolate them.
The operation to return passengers from the ship commenced on Sunday when they began boarding military and government aircraft after the ship docked in the Canary Islands. In a coordinated effort that continued into Monday, personnel donned in full protective gear and breathing masks escorted the travelers from the ship to the shore in Tenerife.
French Health Minister Stephanie Rist reported on Monday that a French woman had tested positive for hantavirus, with her condition deteriorating overnight in the hospital. This woman was among five French nationals who were returned to Paris from the MV Hondius on Sunday. She started showing symptoms during the flight, Rist shared with the public broadcaster France-Inter.
Meanwhile, out of 17 American passengers evacuated to Nebraska, one has tested positive for hantavirus but remains asymptomatic, while another passenger is experiencing mild symptoms, according to U.S. health officials late Sunday. Their flight arrived in the early hours of Monday.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control, informed CNN’s “State of the Union” that the passengers will have the option to stay in Nebraska or return home, where their health status will be monitored by state and local authorities.
“We are not quarantining anybody,” a CDC official told reporters Saturday.
The Americans would first be taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has a federally funded quarantine facility, to assess whether they have been in close contact with any symptomatic people and their risk levels for spreading the virus.
“One passenger will be transported to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival, while other passengers will go to the National Quarantine Unit for assessment and monitoring. The passenger who is going to the Biocontainment Unit tested positive for the virus but does not have symptoms,” said Kayla Thomas, a spokesperson for the Nebraska Medicine hospital that will help care for the passengers.
The medical school also has a special unit for treating people with highly infectious diseases that was used early in the pandemic for COVID-19 patients and previously for Ebola patients.
Passengers from the ship began flying home aboard military and government planes Sunday after the vessel anchored in the Canary Islands. Personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks had escorted the travelers from ship to shore in Tenerife in an effort that was continuing Monday.
The World Health Organization recommended close monitoring of the former passengers, and many countries quarantined them.
Earlier, officials from the Spanish Health Ministry, the World Health Organization and the cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions had said none of the more than 140 people who were then on the Hondius had shown symptoms of the virus.
All of the passengers were escorted Sunday from the ship to shore by personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks. The planes arriving in Tenerife were to fly out passengers from more than 20 countries in an evacuation effort that was running into Monday.
Three people have died since the outbreak began, and five people who left the ship earlier were infected.
Health officials say risk to public is low
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has stressed that the general public should not be worried about the outbreak. “This is not another COVID. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn’t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic,” he said Sunday.
Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
WHO is recommending that passengers’ home countries “have active monitoring and follow-up, which means daily health checks, either at home or in a specialized facility,” said Maria van Kerkhove, the organization’s top epidemiologist.
Numerous countries have said their people will be quarantined or hospitalized for observation.
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