The last passengers have left the hantavirus-hit cruise ship, as authorities confirmed three new positive cases linked to the deadly outbreak.
The MV Hondius departed Tenerife for the Netherlands on Monday after its final six passengers – four Australians, one Briton and one New Zealander – and some crew members disembarked.
Three passengers have died after travelling on the ship, two of whom were confirmed to have had the virus.
An American, a Spaniard and a French national who had previously returned home have tested positive, authorities said. Seven cases of hantavirus linked to the MV Hondius have been confirmed, with two others suspected, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Spain’s health ministry said one Spaniard who is quarantining in Madrid after being evacuated from the vessel had also provisionally tested positive for hantavirus on Monday.
On Monday, the US health department said a second American national on Sunday’s repatriation flight had also shown mild symptoms, adding that both passengers had travelled back in “biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution”.
French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said a woman was isolating in Paris and that her health was deteriorating, with 22 contacts traced.
Two British nationals with confirmed cases are currently being treated in the Netherlands and South Africa.
Hantaviruses are usually carried by rodents, but human transmission of the Andes strain – which the WHO believes some of the ship’s passengers contracted in South America- is possible.
Symptoms can include fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and shortness of breath.
Officials say the risk of a major outbreak is very low.
As of Monday evening, the ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said 27 people remain on board the ship, including 25 crew members and two medical staff.
These include 17 people from the Philippines, four from the Netherlands (including the two medical staff), four from Ukraine, one from Russia and one from Poland.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said the Ukrainians on board would help with the ships’ transfer to the Netherlands and would quarantine at a medical facility on arrival. It added that they had shown no signs of illness.
More than 90 passengers of the MV Hondius, which wasdocked in Spain’s Canary Islands, have been repatriated over the past few days.
Four Canadian passengers landed in Victoria, British Columbia, on Sunday after taking a chartered flight from Tenerife to Quebec. Authorities said they would self-isolate and be monitored for at least three weeks.
The US Department of Health and Human Services said all 17 US citizens on Sunday’s flight would undergo “clinical assessment” at a medical facility in Nebraska. A British national living in the US was also repatriated alongside them.
Seven other US passengers had already returned home and are being monitored in their home states.
Before the American case was confirmed, WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the decision by the US not to follow the organisation’s guidelines over the hantavirus outbreak “may have risks”.
The WHO has recommended 42 days of isolation for those leaving the MV Hondius.
But Dr Jay Bhattacharya, acting head of the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC), said he did not want to cause public panic, insisting that human-to-human transmission was rare and it should not be treated like COVID.
Cruise ship passengers were pictured wearing blue gowns, bouffant caps and medical face masks as they disembarked in Tenerife.
Twenty British nationals flown to Manchester from Tenerife on Sunday were taken to Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside to isolate for 72 hours. None have reported symptoms.
Fourteen Spaniards flown to Madrid are in mandatory quarantine at a military hospital, while another two evacuation flights were scheduled for Monday.
A separate flight carrying 26 passengers and crew – including eight Dutch nationals – arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday.
In a video message released on Monday by Oceanwide Expeditions, which operates the MV Hondius, the captain said the crew’s thoughts were “with the ones that are no longer with us”.
Jan Dobrogowski added that “the past few weeks have been extremely challenging to us all”, while praising the patience, discipline and kindness shown on board the vessel.
The Spanish health minister said that a police officer involved in the repatriation operation had died of cardiac arrest.
An elderly Dutch man was the first passenger who died on board the MV Hondius on 11 April. He had earlier developed symptoms and is believed to have been the first infected in the outbreak, but died before he could be tested.
His wife left the ship on 24 April on the island of St Helena and flew to South Africa. She died two days later in a clinic in Johannesburg.
A German woman died on board the cruise ship on 2 May. Both women are confirmed cases.
The MV Hondius had been carrying 147 passengers and crew from 23 countries after departing from Ushuaia in Argentina on 1 April.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com