Hantavirus newest: Evacuated British passengers quarantined as UK well being officers announce contact tracing

The UK health officials have begin contact tracing for those in touch with British passengers and crew of the Hantavirus-striken MV Hondius.

Announcing the measure, Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Health Security Agency Professor Robin May told BBC Radio 4: “Contact tracing is still very much ongoing and we’ll continue to do that over the next few weeks actually, particularly on stopover points of the cruise ship on islands and, and similar.”

It came as the evacuated and repatriated crew and passengers were put in isolation for 45 days.

Professor May, however, attempted to assure viewers about the spread of Hantavirus, saying it is not the same as Covid-19 pandemic.

Explaining the need for contact tracing measure, he said: “People these days travel a lot as we all know, so it’s important to keep up with where they are, but at the minute we have reached out and contacted a huge number of people already, and again my thanks to them for participating in this.

“But yes… the number of people we’re contacting may continue to rise over the coming days, but most people have already been contacted.”

The body of a German passenger who died onboard after the Hantavirus outbreak will remain on board till the cruise reaches Rotterdam in the Netherlands, said Spanish authorities.

The cruise will then undergo disinfection there. The journey, however, is five days long.

Meanwhile, the passengers and crew members who have disembarked and been repatriated will be checked for symptoms and be forbidden from contacts local.

Hantavirus is spread by rodents. People can get it through contact with infected rodents’ saliva, urine or droppings. It doesn’t usually spread from person to person, but some health authorities say such transmission could be possible.

The Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Health Security Agency attempted to dispel myths around the spread of Hantavirus, while assuring full support to affected individuals.

Stating that it does not spread like novel coronavirus, Professor Robin May told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that while the scientists are “still working quite intensely on understanding more about this virus, but what we know so far is that actually it is quite difficult for the virus to transmit person to person.

“We don’t see that rapid transmission, and as I’ve said before, this is very much not the same as a virus like flu or Covid which transmits it transmits very easily.”

“It’s quite difficult to get between individuals and what we’ve seen so far is the individuals who have apparently contracted it from each other have been in very close contact. They’ve been sharing a cabin, for example, or had extremely close contact with someone who is strongly symptomatic.”

He said that those who are not linked to the cruise ship are at an extremely low risk of contracting it.

“If you are directly involved, we’ve already been speaking to you, we’ve been giving you instructions on what to do for the coming weeks and we’ll continue to support you in that place, but for the rest of us, fortunately, it’s business as usual.”

Professor Robin May, who is the Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Health Security Agency, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the hospital will try to make life in isolation as “normal” as possible as the British passengers and crew of the MV Hondius enter a 45-day isolation.

“In the next three days they’re going to be based at Arrow Park, as you know, which is hospital accommodation, so they’re being accommodated. If they were travelling in a family group, they’re staying in that family group, and they’ll be living as normal a life as they can whilst they’re in hospital.

“During that time we’re going to be assessing them quite intensely, to make sure that they are virus free. So we’re going to be looking by – and these are things that I’m sure people will be familiar with from Covid – so PCR testing to look for any possibility of the virus and also testing their serums or their blood samples for the presence of any antibodies. And after those three days, they then go home to self-isolate for a further 45, which is a long time.”

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the danger of the outbreak is low, as this is not like a coronavirus outbreak.

“We have been repeating the same answer many times,” he said. “This is not another Covid. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn’t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic.”

Meanwhile, passengers disembarking from the Hantavirus-stricken cruise were relieved to finally be on their way to their home country, said another WHO official.

“It’s been great seeing all the buses coming out and people really happy to be on land again and being repatriated,” said Diana Rojas Alvarez, the WHO health operations lead, who is on Tenerife.

As countries rush to evacuate passengers from Hantavirus stricken cruise docked near Tenerife, New Zealand passengers still await repatriation.

They are expected to be flown out along with Australasian repatriation flight, likely to arrive on Monday.

Passengers and disembarking crew members have been allowed to carry only a small bag with essentials, including a cellphone, a charger and documentation, while leaving their remaining luggage behind.

British paratroopers have dropped onto Britain’s most remote overseasterritory, Tristan da Cunha, along with medics and medical supplies, after a case of suspected hantavirus was confirmed there.

A team of six paratroopers and two military clinicians from 16 Air Assault Brigade jumped from ⁠an RAF A400M transport aircraft that flew 6,788km (4,218 miles) from RAF Brize Norton air base in Oxfordshire to Ascension Island then another 3,000 km due south to Tristan da Cunha.

Dropped alongside them on Saturday were oxygen supplies and other medical aid.

The A400M was refuelled mid-flight by a supporting RAF Voyager. The operation is the first time the UK military has deployed medical personnel to provide humanitarian support via a parachute jump, ⁠the Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

The supplies were primarily destined `for a British man who UK health authorities say was a passenger on the cruise ship that was hit by a hantavirus outbreak and which docked at the island between 13 April and 15 April.

The WHO said the man reported symptoms compatible with hantavirus on 28 April and that he is stable and in isolation.

“With oxygen supplies on the island at a critical level, an airdrop with medical personnel ⁠was the only method of getting vital care to the patient in time,” the Ministry of Defence statement said.

The final two flights to evacuate passengers from ⁠the cruise ​ship ⁠hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak ⁠docked near Tenerife ​will ⁠depart on Monday afternoon, ‌Spain’s health minister said on Sunday evening, ‌adding 94 passengers ‌had been evacuated so far.

One flight ⁠from Australia will carry six passengers and another from the Netherlands will take 18 passengers, with both flights ‌also taking passengers ​from other countries ‌which ⁠did not send their ⁠own repatriation flights, officials ‌have ​said.