In Spain, people who have been in contact with the hantavirus, remain asymptomatic and have negative PCR tests will be able to complete the final 14 days of the planned 42-day quarantine at home, provided they meet the necessary conditions to guarantee isolation and health safety. During this period, they will undergo daily checks by Public Health staff.
The Public Health Commission has recently approved a new protocol for monitoring the hantavirus outbreak linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius, which in Spain has led to 14 passengers being admitted to Gómez Ulla Hospital, one of them positive, in addition to two women from Alicante and Barcelona who shared a flight with one of the people who died.
The new document sets out the quarantine conditions for the 15 identified contacts, which will last for 42 days. In the meantime, the only confirmed positive case will remain in the High-Level Isolation and Treatment Unit (UATAN) until full clinical recovery.
Quarantine will be hospital-based for the first 28 days. Transfer to their homes will be carried out in conventional medical transport, avoiding the use of public transport. Both the contact and the driver will have to wear FFP2 masks and take extreme care with hand hygiene.
WHO confirms 12 hantavirus cases after another positive in the Netherlands
A new hantavirus case associated with the MV Hondius cruise ship was confirmed on Friday in a crew member who disembarked in Tenerife and was subsequently transferred to the Netherlands, bringing the total number of infections to 12, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
On his X account, WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted the following update on the hantavirus: "No new deaths have been reported in 20 days. The Netherlands reported one additional case: a crew member who left the ship in Tenerife, was repatriated and has been in isolation since then. The total number of cases to date is 12, with three deaths (all of them occurring before 2 May)."
The death toll remains at three, as WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out at a press conference, where he noted that no new deaths have been reported since 2 May, the date on which the outbreak was first notified to the agency.
"We continue to urge the affected countries to monitor all passengers closely for the remainder of the quarantine period," Tedros added, stressing that the new case detected has been in isolation since being repatriated.
RelatedThe WHO chief also recalled that more than 600 possible contacts in 30 countries are still being followed up, although "a small number of high-risk contacts" have yet to be located.
Tedros thanked the countries that have cooperated in responding to the crisis and in the epidemiological investigation, including Argentina, Cabo Verde, Chile, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain and the United Kingdom.
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