The World Health Organization has issued a red alert regarding hantavirus for 12 countries around the world.
The global health body has warned these countries about the potential threat. All of these countries are facing risk from the same cruise ship, which no country is willing to allow on its territory. In fact, before the hantavirus situation became serious, some passengers had disembarked and returned to their home countries, raising fears of the virus spreading there.
Amid growing global concern, the World Health Organization on Thursday confirmed five hantavirus cases linked to the cruise ship outbreak, while three other cases remain unconfirmed.
A total of eight cases of severe respiratory illness have been reported, including three deaths. Among these, five cases have been confirmed as hantavirus infections.
The World Health Organization has now informed 12 countries whose citizens had disembarked from the vessel MV Hondius on the remote British territory of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. These 12 countries include Canada, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a media briefing in Geneva that the agency currently expects the outbreak to remain limited if public health measures are implemented quickly and appropriately. However, he warned that more cases could emerge as countries continue investigating passengers and their contacts.
The World Health Organization said that around 2,500 hantavirus testing kits are being sent from laboratories in Argentina to five countries. Dutch operator Oceanwide Expeditions told the media that a total of 149 people from 23 countries are aboard the MV Hondius.
Meanwhile, two suspected hantavirus patients quarantined from the MV Hondius ship are currently in a grounded air ambulance in Spain’s Canary Islands, waiting for a replacement aircraft after a technical fault.
According to Spain’s Ministry of Health, the aircraft departed from Cape Verde and was scheduled to stop in Morocco for refueling on its way to Amsterdam. Media reports said Moroccan authorities refused permission for the aircraft to land there. In a statement, the ministry said that during refueling, the aircraft’s doctor reported a malfunction in the patient’s electrical support system.
Earlier, Spain had said it would allow the hantavirus carrying vessel MV Hondius to enter the Canary Islands under international law and humanitarian grounds.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control is currently assessing the ship’s situation to determine which passengers need to be urgently transferred to Cape Verde. The remaining passengers and crew are expected to arrive in the Canary Islands within the next three to four days.
