US President Donald Trump has said authorities are being "very careful" as health officials monitor passengers evacuated from a cruise ship linked to a hantavirus outbreak that has spread across several countries. Speaking at the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said the Andes strain of hantavirus involved in the outbreak was "much harder to catch" than Covid-19.
"It's been around for a long time. People are very familiar with it," he said. "I hope it's fine. All I can do is everything that a president can do, which is somewhat limited, but it seems like it is not easy to spread."
"It's in certain ways very hard to spread… We've lived with it for years, many years, and we think we're in very good shape. We're very careful, and Nebraska has done a fantastic job [isolating returning US cruise ship passengers]," he added.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who appeared alongside Trump, said officials believed the situation was contained. "We have this under control and we're not worried about it," he said.
Eighteen Americans evacuated from thecruise ship MV Hondiuswere flown to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, early on Monday.
Officials said 15 passengers were being housed at the facility's National Quarantine Unit, while one passenger who tested positive for the Andes variant of hantavirus was being treated in a specialised biocontainment unit.
Another passenger was reported to be showing mild symptoms. That individual and their partner were later transferred to Emory Hospital in Atlanta.
Brendan Jackson, acting director of the CDC's Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, said the move was intended to preserve capacity at Nebraska's biocontainment facility "for anyone who might need it among the other passengers".
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the infected passenger had tested "mildly PCR positive" for the virus but was not showing symptoms.
Travel influencer Jake Rosmarin posted a selfie from the quarantine facility in Omaha on Monday, saying he was "feeling well". "Hopping back on for a second to let everyone know I'm okay and feeling well," he wrote on Instagram. "The repatriation flight was smooth, and I safely made it to the National Quarantine Unit in Omaha."
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