‘Healthy and asymptomatic’: Two Indians aboard ship with hantavirus cases evacuated to Netherlands
· Scroll
Two Indian nationals aboard the Dutch-flagged vessel MV Hondius have been evacuated to the Netherlands following a hantavirus outbreak on board, the Embassy of India in Madrid said on Sunday.
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The disease has killed three passengers on the cruise, sparking global health concerns. On Friday, the chief of the National Institute of Virology said the hantavirus outbreak posed no immediate public health threat to India.
The ship, carrying around 150 persons including two Indian crew members, arrived off the coast of Spain’s Canary Islands after the outbreak was reported during its voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.
The ship anchored offshore while passengers disembarked in line with the protocols laid down by the World Health Organization and the Spanish authorities, the embassy said.
“The two Indian nationals are healthy and asymptomatic,” it added.
According to Spain’s National Centre for Emergency Monitoring and Coordination, the two crew members were evacuated to the Netherlands, where they will undergo quarantine under health safety protocols, the embassy said.
The ship had begun its journey from Ushuaia in Argentina on April 1 before the outbreak was detected during the voyage. At least three deaths have been linked to the infection.
A passenger is believed to have contracted hantavirus before boarding the vessel and later transmitted it to others while the ship travelled across the Atlantic Ocean.
A Dutch...