Two Britons evacuated from hantavirus-hit ship ‘improving’ in hospital | Hantavirus

Two Britons who were medically evacuated from a hantavirus-hit cruise ship have recovered, global health officials said.

A British passenger, apparently aged 69, was flown to South Africa on April 27 and is being treated at a private health facility in Sandton, Johannesburg.

Another Briton, expedition guide Martin Anstee, 56, was taken off the MV Hondius on Wednesday and flown to the Netherlands to receive specialist medical care.

Dr. from the World Health Organization (WHO). Maria Van Kerkhove said that two known patients, including an Englishman, remained in the hospital in the Netherlands, while another Englishman was in intensive care in South Africa.

He said at the WHO press conference: “I’m very happy to say that the patient in South Africa is doing better and the two patients we heard about in the Netherlands are in stable condition. So that’s actually very good news.”

As of Thursday, there were eight suspected cases, five of which were confirmed through laboratory tests to be hantavirus, a rare family of viruses carried by rodents.

The outbreak, which has been linked to three deaths, was linked to a birdwatching trip two of the passengers took to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay before boarding the ship.

Tour operator Oceanwide Expeditions said that despite concerns from locals and officials, Spanish authorities allowed the ship to dock in the Canary Islands and it left the coast of Cape Verde at 15.15 local time on Wednesday.

It is expected to arrive at Tenerife’s Granadilla port early on Sunday.

The World Health Organization said morale on board had improved since the ship began its voyage to Tenerife. There are two doctors on board, along with infectious disease experts from the WHO and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, who conduct a medical assessment of everyone on board.

Although the risk to the public is low, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there may be more cases due to the incubation period of the Andean virus (the hantavirus variant linked to the outbreak); This period may last up to six weeks.

“While this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the public health risk as low,” he said. He thanked the ship operator for its cooperation and the passengers and crew who “were going through a very difficult and frightening situation.”

Director of the warning and intervention coordination department, Dr. According to Abdirahman Mahamud, WHO does not expect the outbreak to become a pandemic. He highlighted a similar outbreak in Argentina in 2018-19 that led to 34 cases.

Seven Britons were among 30 people from 12 countries who abandoned the ship when it docked on the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena; Among them was a Dutch woman who fell ill and died during the journey. The woman was accompanying the funeral of her husband, who died on the ship on April 11.

On Thursday, a woman who reportedly was a flight attendant in Amsterdam and who had come into contact with the deceased woman came forward with potential symptoms.

Oceanwide Expeditions said guests who had disembarked were contacted.

The UK Health Safety Agency (UKHSA) was asked if it could confirm it had been in contact with all seven Britons who left the ship on 24 April.

It was previously announced that two British people returning from the ship were quarantined at home and did not show symptoms. Contact tracing is being done for anyone who may have sat with them on the way home. The two people contacted health authorities when they heard about the cases on the ship.

It was stated that 19 British citizens were passengers on the MV Hondius, which went from Argentina to Cape Verde with four British crew members.

British passengers on the ship will be asked to self-isolate in the UK for 45 days, UK health experts said. Prof Robin May, UKHSA’s chief scientific officer, said: “The risk here to the wider public who are not directly involved with this cruise ship is truly negligible.”

The Foreign Office is organizing a charter flight so that asymptomatic Britons remaining on the ship can be repatriated after docking in Tenerife in the next few days.

According to the UKHSA, none of the British nationals on board reported symptoms but they are being monitored closely.

May said the “extreme incubation period” of hantavirus “could last up to eight weeks”, but the general consensus was that people “probably should be isolated for six weeks and so 45 days is probably the isolation period we would recommend”.

Three people, including the expedition guide and former police officer Anstee, were taken off the ship to the Netherlands on Wednesday for treatment. Speaking from hospital, he told Sky News: “I’m fine. I don’t feel too bad. There’s still a lot of tests to be done.”

“I have no idea how long I will be in the hospital. I am currently in isolation.”