A HEALTH expert said the 38 Filipinos on board the hantavirus-struck cruise ship will no longer be quarantined when they arrive in the Philippines.
All the Filipino crew members aboard the MV Hondius were required to undergo a 42-day quarantine in the Netherlands.
Former Health undersecretary Eric Tayag told The Manila Times that the protocol being implemented is similar to measures carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The protocol is to identify who has a symptom. We already did this during Covid. Who among them has the symptom will be directed to the hospital depending on the severity of their illness,” said Tayag in Filipino.
He added that once they finish their quarantine, the Filipinos can be repatriated, and quarantine is no longer required once they land in the country.
He noted that the Andes virus, the type of hantavirus reported in the MV Hondius, starts with pneumonia.
“The Andes virus is a person-to-person transmission, so droplets. If you are near someone who has it, you can also have it; that’s why the incubation period is 42 days,” he added.
Tayag explained that the hantavirus is not new, noting that 2 cases were reported at San Lazaro Hospital in Manila in 1992.
“Hantavirus is a rat-borne disease. Their feces get aerosolized and can be inhaled. But the type of hantavirus we have is unlike the hantavirus pulmonary syndrome reported in the MV Hondius, where 50 percent of people may die because it affects the lungs,” he added.
Tayag clarified that only those who have the symptoms will be isolated.
