By Charlotte Van Campenhout
ROTTERDAM, May 18 (Reuters) – The hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius was due to dock in Rotterdam on Monday morning for disinfection, with Dutch authorities preparing quarantine arrangements for the 25 crew members and two medical staff remaining on board.
Local authorities said quarantine facilities had been set up for some of the non-Dutch crew, though it was not clear yet if they would stay there for the full recommended 42-day quarantine period.
The Dutch-flagged luxury cruise ship had been carrying around 150 passengers and crew from 23 countries when a cluster of severe respiratory illnesses among passengers was first reported to the World Health Organization on May 2.
Three people – a Dutch couple and a German national – have died since the start of the outbreak.
NOTHING LIKE COVID, SAYS WHO
The vessel, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, had been stranded off Cape Verde, its intended final destination, earlier this month after authorities barred passengers from going ashore due to the outbreak. The WHO and the EU asked Spain to manage the evacuation at the Canary Islands, after which the ship departed for Rotterdam with a skeleton crew and two additional medical staff.
Hantavirus is primarily spread by rodents but can be transmitted between people in rare cases and after prolonged, close contact. Incubation can last about six weeks.
Crew, passengers who already left the ship and people in contact with them have been quarantined in several countries around the world.
The current outbreak involves the so-called Andes virus, which has circulated in Argentina and Chile for decades. Ship samples show no meaningful variation in the virus, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has said.
On Friday, the WHO revised its case count to 10 from 11 after an inconclusive U.S. case tested negative. As of May 15, there were 10 WHO reported cases – eight confirmed and two probable – including the three deaths.
British Columbia’s government said on Saturday one Canadian, who had been a passenger on the Hondius, had also tested positive for hantavirus. The WHO said on Sunday it was waiting for official updates but that this would make it 11 cases.
It said earlier this month more cases were expected to emerge from the outbreak but stressed that the situation was nothing like COVID and did not constitute a pandemic.
Due to the long incubation period, the search for new cases could continue for months, testing authorities’ post-COVID communications playbook.
The WHO recommends monitoring and quarantining high-risk contacts for 42 days after exposure, while advising low-risk contacts to self-monitor and seek medical care if symptoms develop.
ROTTERDAM CITIZENS NOT WORRIED ABOUT PANDEMIC RISK
Some Dutch citizens expressed some concern about the arrival of the MV Hondius in Rotterdam, fearing people might not follow the quarantine rules, but told Reuters they didn’t expect a new pandemic.
“What is concerning to me is how well will people … stay in quarantine,” 35-year-old Rotterdam resident Claudia Eduardo said. “Because we know during the pandemic a lot of people didn’t abide to the rules.” 18-year-old Aleks Mladenovic said it had been scary at first to hear about the hantavirus outbreak, but after doing research he felt more at ease. “It’s not a new thing. We’ll probably figure something out and get on top of it again,” he said. “I am not worried at all.”
(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Zoran Mikletic in Rotterdam; Additional reporting by Matthias Williams in London, Editing by David Holmes)
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