Cruise ship with hantavirus infected on board arrives in Canary Islands
The MV Hondius cruise ship, carrying people infected with hantavirus, has arrived to evacuate patients to the shores of the Spanish island of Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands. This was announced on May 10 by Spanish Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla.
"The transfer of [people] on Zodiac boats will be carried out in groups of five people. After disembarking, the military emergency Management Unit (UME) prepared three buses with the necessary safety and health measures," he described, as quoted by RTVE.
The first floating vehicles will bring 14 Spanish citizens ashore. The trial itself, which involved 325 representatives from the Civil Guard and 33 police officers, began at dawn. According to the plan, all patients will be accompanied by a representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), who will also be quarantined in the future. At the same time, 30 crew members will be left on the liner itself, who will be allowed to return to the Netherlands, and 17 more will disembark as part of the evacuation so that they can be helped to return to their home countries.
"Those disembarking will be allowed to carry only a small, sealed piece of hand luggage in a bag containing basic necessities: documents, a mobile phone, a charger, basic necessities and personal belongings," Padilla added.
The MV Hondius liner will be disinfected, and some of its materials will be disposed of in accordance with existing international protocols.
The outbreak of hantavirus on the cruise ship MV Hondius became known on May 3. At that time, it was reported that at least two people had already died on board the ship from Argentina. After a while, the death toll increased to three.The Minister of Health of the Republic of South Africa, Aaron Motsoaledi, said on May 6 that the strain that killed the passengers of the liner could be called Andes. According to the expert, he is the only one of 38 of his kind that can be transmitted between people.
On May 9, Juan Jose Badiola, Director of the Center for Encephalopathy and New Infectious Diseases at the University of Zaragoza, spoke to Izvestia about ways to spread hantavirus. So, according to him, this disease can be obtained first from a rodent, and then transmitted to a person through close contact. Also, virus particles can, according to him, hover in an unventilated room.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
