Authorities announced the new cases as countries around the world repatriate passengers from outbreak-hit cruise ships and quarantine or isolate them.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A French woman and two Americans tested positive for or had hantavirus symptoms on Monday, as countries around the world repatriated passengers from outbreak-hit cruise ships and placed them in quarantine or quarantine.
Passengers on board began flying home on military and government aircraft after the ship anchored in the Canary Islands on Sunday. Personnel wearing full-body protective gear and respiratory masks escorted passengers from the ship to Tenerife’s shores, an effort that continued Monday.
The French woman tested positive for hantavirus and her health condition worsened overnight in hospital, French Health Minister Stephanie Riester said on Monday. The woman was one of five French passengers deported from the MV Hondius back to Paris on Sunday. Riester told public broadcaster France Internationale that she developed symptoms on a flight to Paris.
One of the 17 American passengers on board was evacuated U.S. health officials said Sunday night that a passenger flying to Nebraska also tested positive for hantavirus but showed no symptoms, while another passenger had mild symptoms. The flight landed early Monday morning.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that passengers will have the option to stay in Nebraska or go home, and their conditions will be monitored by state and local health agencies.
CDC official says: ‘We are not quarantining anyone’ told reporters on Saturday.
Those Americans will first be taken to the University of Nebraska Medical Center, which has a federally funded quarantine facility, to assess whether they have been in close contact with anyone with symptoms and their level of risk for spreading the virus.
“One passenger will be sent to the Nebraska Biocontainment Center upon arrival, while the other passengers will go to the state quarantine center for evaluation and monitoring. The passenger who went to the biocontainment center tested positive for the virus but was asymptomatic,” said Kayla Thomas, spokesperson for Nebraska Medicine, which is helping care for the passengers.
The medical school also has a department dedicated to treating patients with highly infectious diseases, which was used to treat COVID-19 patients early in the pandemic and previously to treat Ebola patients.
Passengers on board began flying home on military and government aircraft after the ship anchored in the Canary Islands on Sunday. Personnel wearing full-body protective gear and respiratory masks escorted passengers from the ship to Tenerife’s shores, an effort that continued Monday.
The World Health Organization recommended close monitoring of former passengers and many countries quarantined them.
Previously, officials from the Spanish Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and the Oceanwide Expeditions cruise line stated that none of the more than 140 people on board the Hondius at the time had been infected with the new coronavirus. showing symptoms Viral.
All passengers were escorted to shore on Sunday by staff wearing full protective gear and respiratory masks. Planes arriving in Tenerife will pick up passengers from more than 20 countries for evacuation operations that last until Monday.
Three people have died since the outbreak began and five people who disembarked earlier have been taken to hospital. Infected.
Health officials say risk to public is low
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed that the public should not worry about the outbreak. “This is not another coronavirus. The risk to the public is low. So they should not be afraid and they should not panic,” he said on Sunday.
Hantaviruses are usually spread through rodent feces and are not easily transmitted from person to person. but andes virus Outbreaks identified on cruise ships may in rare cases be able to spread from person to person. Symptoms usually appear within one to eight weeks after exposure.
Maria Van Kerkhove, a senior WHO epidemiologist, said the WHO recommended that passengers’ home countries “active surveillance and follow-up, which means daily health checks, whether at home or in a specialized facility”.
Many countries have said their people will be quarantined or hospitalized for observation.
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