At least two Indian nationals are among the crew members aboard the Dutch luxury cruise vessel MV Hondius, which has reported a hantavirus outbreak that has so far resulted in five confirmed cases and three deaths, according to a BBC report.
Operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, the cruise ship began its voyage from Ushuaia in Argentina on April 1 and is scheduled to arrive at Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.
Around 150 passengers and crew members from 28 countries were initially onboard the vessel. However, dozens of passengers disembarked at the island of St Helena on April 24, the report said.
According to the BBC, the passengers and crew onboard included 38 people from the Philippines, 31 from the UK, 23 from the US, 16 from the Netherlands, 14 from Spain, nine from Germany, six from Canada, and two crew members from India, among others.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases had been confirmed.
Among the fatalities was a 69-year-old Dutch woman who had tested positive for the virus. Her Dutch husband and a German woman also died, with investigations into their cases currently underway.
The UN health agency has clarified that the outbreak is not the beginning of a pandemic.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at WHO, told a news briefing that the situation differs significantly from the Covid-19 pandemic because hantavirus spreads through “close, intimate contact”.
Van Kerkhove said “this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently”. She added that authorities had asked “everyone to wear a mask” on board the MV Hondius.
Those in contact with or caring for suspected cases, she added, should “wear a higher level of personal protective equipment”.
WHO also noted that while hantavirus typically spreads through rodents, the latest outbreak marked the first documented instance of person-to-person transmission.
Meanwhile, health authorities are working to trace dozens of passengers who recently disembarked from the vessel.
Oceanwide Expeditions said that 29 passengers from at least 12 nationalities had left the MV Hondius in St Helena, a British Overseas Territory.
The company also confirmed that the body of one deceased passenger, now identified as a Dutch man, was removed from the ship.
Among those who disembarked from the cruise liner were seven British nationals.