Hantavirus may have spread to remote islands

AMSTERDAM: Health experts raced to contain the potential spread of hantavirus after two suspected cases emerged on Friday on a luxury cruise ship far from the outbreak site.The latest reports involve a man falling ill after disembarking from a ship and a woman falling ill after sitting near an infected cruise ship passenger on a plane.The incidents reported by health officials thousands of miles apart – one in Spain and another on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha – differ from the WHO tally of eight people sickened on board the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius. Three of them have died.Four patients in South Africa, the Netherlands and Switzerland remained in hospital on Friday.The Hondius is en route to Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where it is expected to dock early Sunday.The head of the World Health Organization sought to reassure worried residents on Saturday that they were not at risk. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Spanish Health Minister Mónica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marasca will travel to the island to coordinate the embarkation.“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘epidemic’ and see a ship sailing towards your shores, memories that have not yet fully settled for all of us surface. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I will not ignore it for a moment,” Tedros said. “But I need you to hear this clearly: this is not another coronavirus. The public health risk from hantavirus remains low at this time.”Passengers and crew will be screened before disembarking, in line with guidelines finalized by the World Health Organization and other agencies. mechanism