Authorities are racing against time to track down passengers who may have been in contact with theMV Hondius. The cruise ship is at the centre of ahantavirus outbreakwhich has seen three people die after falling ill.
Authorities fear that as many as 40 passengers may have left the ship early in St Helena before travelling across the world. A Spanish passenger still onboard the vessel told the El Pais newspaper: “There are 23 people wandering around there, and until three days ago, no one had contacted them. The Australian went back toAustralia, the one from Taiwan to Taiwan, the Americans to all corners of North America. The Englishman to England, the Dutch to their homes.”
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It has been reported that one passenger, who left the ship early and flew home to Switzerland with his wife, has already tested positive for the virus and is being treated in Zurich.
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said “for the broader public, not directly involved in this cruise ship, the risk here is really negligible”.
But he told theBBC’s Radio 4 Today programme that those British passengers on the ship who are now on their way to Tenerife will be flown home and asked to self-isolate, most likely at home, for a period of 45 days.
Prof May explained that hantaviruses as a group are widespread around the world.
“This one, in particular, the Andean strain, is the only one for which there is some evidence in the past of human to human transmission, and so that’s obviously our primary focus here,” he said.
He added it has been studied intently because it is “such a severe disease” and there are efforts globally to try to develop vaccines against it.
Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
