The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has classified the hantavirus outbreak as 'level 3' emergency response, the lowest level of emergency activation, ABC News reported on Thursday citing sources.
Three people- a Dutch couple and a German national - have died in the outbreak on the MV Hondius. Eight people, including a Swiss citizen, are suspected of having contracted the virus, according to the World Health Organisation.
The CDC also alerted Texas health authorities that two state residents had travelled aboard the MV Hondius. Public health officials later contacted both individuals, who said they had no symptoms and reported no contact with any sick passenger during the voyage.
Singapore has isolated two residents and placed them under testing after they travelled on the cruise ship linked to a deadly hantavirus outbreak, the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said on Thursday. Authorities across several countries are now tracing passengers from the virus-hit vessel to curb any possible spread of hantavirus.
These passengers had disembarked before the virus was detected, likely on April 24, at a remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena.