PARIS (Reuters) : A French passenger who was on a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak has tested positive for the virus and her condition is deteriorating, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said on Monday.
The passenger was among five French people who were on the ship. The four other passengers tested negative but will be re-tested, she told France Inter radio, adding that so far French authorities have traced 22 contact cases.
“What is key, is to act at the start and break the virus transmission chains. This is what we are doing with the Prime Minister, notably with a decree that came out today that will allow us to strengthen isolation measures for contact cases and to protect the population,” she said.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu will hold a meeting on the hantavirus crisis later today.
Asked if France had enough masks and tests to cope with a potential crisis, Rist said: “Yes, France is ready.”
One of 17 Americans being repatriated tests positive
The US Department of Health and Human Services said on Sunday that one of the 17 Americans being repatriated from a hantavirus-struck luxury cruise ship has tested mildly positive for the Andes strain of the virus while a second has mild symptoms.
All the US citizens are being airlifted to the United States, and the two passengers with symptoms are traveling in the plane’s biocontainment units, HHS added.
The second symptomatic passenger has not yet been confirmed as having the virus.
Hantaviruses are a group of viruses that are usually spread by rodents but in rare cases can be transmitted person to person. Health authorities have said the risk of the virus spreading is low.
Eight people no longer on the MV Hondius have fallen ill, according to a World Health Organization update from Friday, with six of them confirmed to have contracted the virus. A Dutch couple and a German national have died.
The Andes strain of hantavirus, identified in the ship’s outbreak, can cause severe lung illness that can be fatal in up to 50 percent of cases, according to the WHO.
The US State Department’s airlift will transport passengers to the ASPR Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, and the passenger with mild symptoms will be taken to a second RESPTC, the HHS said.
On arrival at the facilities, each individual will undergo clinical assessment and receive care based on their condition, HHS added.
Spain and France have evacuated their citizens from the MV Hondius, which is anchored near Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, officials said. Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Turkiye, the UK and Ireland are also flying home nationals who were on the ship.
Australia to fly citizens home from virus-hit cruise ship, plans quarantine
Australia will charter a flight to evacuate its citizens from a Dutch-flagged luxury cruise ship linked to a deadly hantavirus outbreak, with returning passengers expected to be quarantined on arrival, the government said on Monday.
Environment Minister Murray Watt said four Australians, one resident of Tenerife and one resident of New Zealand will be repatriated.
“This is being done via an Australian government-supported flight, and we expect those people to return to Australia soon,” Watt told reporters in Canberra.
“Quarantine arrangements are being finalized as we speak with the states and territories.”
It was not known if any of the people being brought to Australia have fallen ill or were showing symptoms of the virus. The foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request seeking more details.
New Zealand’s Director of Public Health Corina Grey said in a statement on Monday that the country’s health services had the capacity to support any quarantine measures if required.
