40 passengers left hantavirus-stricken cruise ship without contact tracing
What's the story
Dozens of passengers disembarked from a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak on April 24 without contact tracing, AP reported. They left the ship almost two weeks after the first passenger died on board. The deceased was a Dutch man who died on April 11. His body was removed from the ship at St. Helena, a remote South Atlantic island, where his wife also disembarked and later died in South Africa.
Disembarkation details
29 passengers disembarked the vessel: Oceanwide Expeditions
The cruise ship operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, on Thursday said that 29 passengers disembarked the vessel. However, the Dutch Foreign Ministry put the figure at around 40. These passengers belonged to at least 12 different nationalities and two had unknown nationalities. The company had not previously acknowledged that many people left the ship at that time.
Ongoing investigations
Contact tracing underway in Europe and South Africa
Authorities in Europe and South Africa are now trying to trace contacts of passengers who disembarked the ship. On Wednesday, a man tested positive for hantavirus in Switzerland after he disembarked at St. Helena. It was not immediately known what condition the man was in after testing positive but his wife has not displayed any symptoms. She is self-isolating as a precaution. Dutch authorities have not confirmed the current locations of other passengers who left the ship.
Health impact
3 passengers died in outbreak
According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), two British people are self-isolating at home in the UK after potential exposure to hantavirus on the cruise ship. One of the British men was among three people evacuated from the ship on Wednesday to the Netherlands for treatment, operator Oceanwide Expeditions said. They had flown back to the UK via Johannesburg. The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed three deaths and at least five infections due to this outbreak so far.