Hantavirus cruise ship latest: Foreign Office warns British travellers virus is health concern in Argentina

Five cases have been confirmed in the outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise

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The Foreign Office has warned British travellers that hantavirus is now a health concern in Argentina and it has added the virus to its travel advice for people heading to the nation in South America.

It comes as the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said there are now five confirmed cases in the outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise, which took on board 114 guests in Ushuaia, Argentina, on 1 April.

Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, said eight cases of the virus have been reported, with five confirmed and three suspected.

Although none of the passengers or crew currently on board are symptomatic, Dr Ghebreyesus warned more cases may be identified given the incubation period of the virus, which can be up to six weeks, but said the public health risk is low.

Additionally, four British nationals remain in overseas territory St Helena after disembarking the cruise on the tiny island in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Seven British people got off the vessel there last month, before the hantavirus outbreak was announced, and two have returned to the UK to isolate, while the seventh individual has also been contacted and is not currently in the UK.

• What is hantavirus? Symptoms you need to know after deadly cruise ship outbreak
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• British doctor airlifted from hantavirus-hit cruise ship as cases rise onboard
• The four common illnesses on cruise ships that experts want you to know about

Key Points

• 'This is not covid', WHO says
• ‘No idea how long I’ll be in hospital’, British hantavirus patient says
• Two people told to self-isolate in the UK after returning from cruise
• Risk to UK public remains very low, health authorities emphasise
• Passengers may have to isolate for up to 45 days

Watch: WHO reacts to fears of a COVID-style hantavirus pandemic

'This is not covid'

The ⁠WHO repeated that the risk to the general public was "low" even if the Andean strain of the virus, found in several victims, can in rare cases be transmitted among humans.

"This is not coronavirus, this is a very different virus," Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO director ⁠of epidemic and pandemic management, told a press conference.

"This is not the same situation we were in six years ago."

The WHO said it was ​working on ⁠step-by-step guidance for when the dozens of passengers remaining on ‌the ship, which is sailing to the Canary Islands, arrives there on Saturday or Sunday and the passengers disembark and travel home.

None of these passengers currently have any symptoms.

Argentine government’s hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus while birdwatching

The Associated Press reported the Argentine government’s hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus during a birdwatching outing in the city of Ushuaia before boarding.

Two Argentine officials told the news agency that the couple visited a landfill during the birdwatching tour where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.

Argentine investigators tasked with analysing rodents at the landfill site to see if they carry the Andes strain of the hantavirus, that has been identified in the outbreak on the cruise ship, are yet to leave for Ushuaia, but plan to travel there “in the coming days”, AP reported.

Passengers were confined to their cabins while “disinfection and other public health measures are carried out”, the WHO said on Tuesday.

Risk to public is low but there could be more cases, WHO says

While the risk to the public is low, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said there could be more cases due to the incubation period of the Andes virus – the variant of hantavirus linked to the outbreak.

“Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it’s possible that more cases may be reported,” he said.

“While this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the public health risk as low.”

He added: “I would also like to thank the ship’s operator for its co-operation, and the passengers and crew who are going through a very difficult and frightening situation.

“I’ve been in touch with the ship’s captain regularly, including this morning. He told me morale has improved significantly since the ship started moving again.”

The WHO is not expecting the outbreak to be an epidemic, according to Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, director at the alert and response co-ordination department.

He highlighted a similar outbreak in Argentina in 2018/19 which led to 34 cases.

'Higher risk contacts' in St Helena told to isolate for 45 days

Authorities in St Helena, the remote, volcanic British territory in the South Atlantic where passengers got off, said they were monitoring a small number of people who were considered "higher risk contacts."

Those higher risk contacts were being told to isolate for 45 days, the St. Helena government said.

Watch: WHO warn six week incubation period could mean further hantavirus cases reported

Watch; Spanish officials give hantavirus update as ship set to dock in days

Recap: ‘Good news’ on Britons in hospital after cruise ship hantavirus outbreak – WHO

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

A British passenger, understood to be a 69-year-old man, was taken to South Africa on April 27 and is receiving care at a private health facility in Sandton, Johannesburg.

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

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, from the World Health Organisation (WHO), said two patients – known to include a Briton – remain in hospital in the Netherlands, and another Briton is in intensive care in South Africa.

She told a WHO press briefing: “I am very happy to say the patient in South Africa is doing better, and the two patients in the Netherlands we hear are stable. So that is actually very good news.”

South Africa is tracing contacts from an April 25 flight

The Dutch health ministry said Thursday that a flight attendant on a plane briefly boarded by an infected cruise passenger in South Africa was showing symptoms of hantavirus and would be tested in an isolation ward at a hospital in Amsterdam.

The cruise passenger, also a Dutch woman, was too ill to fly and was taken off the plane in Johannesburg, where she died.

If the woman tests positive, she could be the first known person not on the MV Hondius to become infected in the outbreak.

The vessel is now sailing to Spain's Canary Islands, where it is expected to arrive on Saturday or Sunday, with more than 140 passengers and crew members still on board.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday that he had been in regular touch with the ship's captain, and that morale improved once it began moving again.

Authorities in South Africa are also trying to trace contacts of any passengers who previously got off the ship.

They have focused mainly on an 25 April flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg, the day after passengers disembarked there.

What is hantavirus? Symptoms you need to know after deadly cruise ship outbreak

What is hantavirus? Symptoms you need to know after deadly cruise ship outbreak

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