Hantavirus: 40 passengers left the ship during outbreak. But calm down, “it’s not COVID-19”

“There are 23 people out there and, until three days ago, no one had contacted them.” WHO reassures the rest of the world.

“23 people left in Saint Helena. There are 23 people out there and, until three days ago, no one had contacted them.”

The World Health Organization was already there. They were on a plane that was also carrying a passenger who had been on the cruise ship. Hondius, scenario of an outbreak of hantavirus.

But after all, the demand is broader than that.

A Spanish passenger on the ship told 23 people left Hondius on the island of Saint Helena for more than two weeks, when the hantavirus outbreak had already begun on board.

The passengers left on April 21st on the island of Saint Helena, 10 days after the first death registered on the cruise. They are spread out: each one returned to their country of origin – Australia, Taiwan, USA, United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

In other words, inside the ship the passengers were isolated, under a special hygiene regime; but the 23 passengers who left returned to their normal life, outside the ship. The outbreak may have started outside the ship and may now be spreading outside the ship.

According to the same report, at least one of these 23 people was infected with hantavirus.

The WHO only started talking to these passengers three days ago, says the same passenger.

After all, there are 40

Hours later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs updated: they are 40 passengers who disembarked on the island of Saint Helena after the death of the first passenger.

Among the 40 passengers was wife of Dutch citizen who died on board.

Authorities in South Africa and Europe are trying to locate the contacts of those passengers who left the cruise after the outbreak began.

It’s not COVID

The WHO is trying to calm the rest of the planet. Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told AFP that “the risk to the rest of the world is low.”

And the WHO compares this situation to the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. COVID-19? “NoI don’t think so.”

The WHO has already scheduled “meetings to coordinate partners and organize a response” but, for now, there is no need to convene the emergency committee.

Meanwhile, the cruise ship Hondius sailed again and left the vicinity of Cape Verde, late this Wednesday afternoon. The journey to Tenerife, Spain.