Hantavirus latest: Evacuated British passengers quarantined amid contact tracing

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed six people have had hantavirus and three people died in the outbreak.

The confirmed cases include two British nationals who are being treated in the Netherlands and South Africa.

However, there are also several cases of suspected hantavirus, including a British man who is on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha.

Passengers who travelled back to France and the US over the weekend have also shown symptoms of hantavirus.

One French national developed symptoms while on a chartered flight from Tenerife to Paris. As a result all five French nationals who were evacuated over the weekend have been put in “strict isolation”.

One of the 17 Americans being repatriated from the hantavirus-hit ship has tested mildly positive for the ‌Andes strain of the virus while a second has mild symptoms, but has not yet been confirmed as having the virus.

A plane carrying 20 British nationals arrived at Manchester Airport on Sunday.

The British nationals along with one German national, who is a UK resident, and one Japanese passenger are now being monitored at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral.

Within a 72-hour period, these passengers will receive clinical assessments and testing and will be required to isolate for 45 days.

The UK Government repatriated the Japanese passenger at the request of the Japanese Government and they will complete their isolation in the UK in line with UKHSA guidance.

Public Health Minister Sharon Hodgson said: “None of the passengers are symptomatic but we will monitor them closely over the next 72 hours at the hospital, as part of a precautionary isolation period.

“With no cases or symptoms among them and both our stringent monitoring and isolation measures, the risk to the public remains extremely low.”

The UK health officials have begin contact tracing for those in touch with British passengers and crew of the Hantavirus-striken MV Hondius.

Announcing the measure, Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Health Security Agency Professor Robin May told BBC Radio 4: “Contact tracing is still very much ongoing and we’ll continue to do that over the next few weeks actually, particularly on stopover points of the cruise ship on islands and, and similar.”

It came as the evacuated and repatriated crew and passengers were put in isolation for 45 days.

Professor May, however, attempted to assure viewers about the spread of Hantavirus, saying it is not the same as Covid-19 pandemic.

Explaining the need for contact tracing measure, he said: “People these days travel a lot as we all know, so it’s important to keep up with where they are, but at the minute we have reached out and contacted a huge number of people already, and again my thanks to them for participating in this.

“But yes… the number of people we’re contacting may continue to rise over the coming days, but most people have already been contacted.”

The body of a German passenger who died onboard after the Hantavirus outbreak will remain on board till the cruise reaches Rotterdam in the Netherlands, said Spanish authorities.

The cruise will then undergo disinfection there. The journey, however, is five days long.

Meanwhile, the passengers and crew members who have disembarked and been repatriated will be checked for symptoms and be forbidden from contacts local.

Hantavirus is spread by rodents. People can get it through contact with infected rodents’ saliva, urine or droppings. It doesn’t usually spread from person to person, but some health authorities say such transmission could be possible.

The Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Health Security Agency attempted to dispel myths around the spread of Hantavirus, while assuring full support to affected individuals.

Stating that it does not spread like novel coronavirus, Professor Robin May told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that while the scientists are “still working quite intensely on understanding more about this virus, but what we know so far is that actually it is quite difficult for the virus to transmit person to person.

“We don’t see that rapid transmission, and as I’ve said before, this is very much not the same as a virus like flu or Covid which transmits it transmits very easily.”

“It’s quite difficult to get between individuals and what we’ve seen so far is the individuals who have apparently contracted it from each other have been in very close contact. They’ve been sharing a cabin, for example, or had extremely close contact with someone who is strongly symptomatic.”

He said that those who are not linked to the cruise ship are at an extremely low risk of contracting it.

“If you are directly involved, we’ve already been speaking to you, we’ve been giving you instructions on what to do for the coming weeks and we’ll continue to support you in that place, but for the rest of us, fortunately, it’s business as usual.”

Professor Robin May, who is the Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Health Security Agency, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the hospital will try to make life in isolation as “normal” as possible as the British passengers and crew of the MV Hondius enter a 45-day isolation.

“In the next three days they’re going to be based at Arrow Park, as you know, which is hospital accommodation, so they’re being accommodated. If they were travelling in a family group, they’re staying in that family group, and they’ll be living as normal a life as they can whilst they’re in hospital.

“During that time we’re going to be assessing them quite intensely, to make sure that they are virus free. So we’re going to be looking by – and these are things that I’m sure people will be familiar with from Covid – so PCR testing to look for any possibility of the virus and also testing their serums or their blood samples for the presence of any antibodies. And after those three days, they then go home to self-isolate for a further 45, which is a long time.”

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the danger of the outbreak is low, as this is not like a coronavirus outbreak.

“We have been repeating the same answer many times,” he said. “This is not another Covid. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn’t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic.”

Meanwhile, passengers disembarking from the Hantavirus-stricken cruise were relieved to finally be on their way to their home country, said another WHO official.

“It’s been great seeing all the buses coming out and people really happy to be on land again and being repatriated,” said Diana Rojas Alvarez, the WHO health operations lead, who is on Tenerife.

As countries rush to evacuate passengers from Hantavirus stricken cruise docked near Tenerife, New Zealand passengers still await repatriation.

They are expected to be flown out along with Australasian repatriation flight, likely to arrive on Monday.

Passengers and disembarking crew members have been allowed to carry only a small bag with essentials, including a cellphone, a charger and documentation, while leaving their remaining luggage behind.