Amsterdam, May 18 (IANS) The hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius arrived at the Dutch port of Rotterdam on Monday for disinfection, concluding a voyage that had drawn the attention of international health authorities.
The crew members are set to enter quarantine immediately. Those unable to return to their home countries will undergo quarantine in the Netherlands, the Dutch health ministry said last week.
According to Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch vessel’s operator, there are currently 27 people on board, including 25 crew members and two medical personnel. The group consists of 17 Filipinos, four Dutch nationals, four Ukrainians, one Russian and one Polish national. Most of them will undergo a six-week quarantine in Rotterdam, Xinhua news agency reported.
“The remaining crew and medical staff on board MV Hondius will disembark in a staggered approach upon arrival in Rotterdam, in close coordination with the cleaning process,” Oceanwide Expeditions said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has confirmed a case of hantavirus in a cruise passenger currently isolating in British Columbia following laboratory testing.
PHAC said in a statement on Sunday that samples from British Columbia were sent to the agency’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg for confirmatory testing.
According to the agency, one individual’s sample was confirmed positive for hantavirus on Saturday. A second individual, a travelling partner of the confirmed case, was confirmed negative.
No additional cases have been identified so far. PHAC said all high-risk contacts are isolating and will continue to be closely monitored by local public health authorities, adding that the overall risk to the general population in Canada remains low at this time.
The outbreak occurred aboard the polar expedition cruise ship MV Hondius and has resulted in three deaths so far. The incubation period for hantavirus generally ranges from one to eight weeks.
Earlier, health authorities in Canada’s British Columbia province announced that a Canadian cruise passenger currently in isolation has tested presumptively positive for hantavirus
–IANS
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