Vancouver, May 17 (IANS) A Canadian cruise passenger currently in isolation has tested presumptive positive for hantavirus, health authorities in Canada’s British Columbia province announced.
Bonnie Henry, a provincial health officer, said the patient began developing mild symptoms, including fever and headache, two days ago and was taken to a local hospital. The presumptive positive result came back on Friday and the person is currently being treated in isolation as a positive patient, Xinhua news agency reported.
The result still awaits final confirmation from a microbiology laboratory over the weekend, said Henry.
The patient is among 10 Canadians nationwide currently placed in isolation due to the cruise ship outbreak. Of the total, four are undergoing a 21-day monitored isolation in British Columbia, while the remaining six are isolated in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. The presumptive positive case is one of the four isolated in British Columbia, while the partner has tested negative.
Henry emphasized that none of the individuals in isolation had come into contact with the public during their transfer, and all involved health-care workers wore full personal protective equipment. She reassured the public that the virus does not have “pandemic potential” and there is no need for widespread panic.
The outbreak occurred aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius and has caused three deaths so far. The incubation period for hantavirus generally ranges from one to eight weeks.
Meanwhile, the Dutch government announced earlier that the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius is expected to arrive at the Port of Rotterdam next Monday, with most crew members set to undergo a six-week quarantine in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
“Rotterdam has been designated in the Netherlands as the port for the handling of infectious diseases in shipping,” according to a letter sent to parliament on Friday (local time) and signed by Sophie Hermans, Dutch minister of health, welfare and sport, and Tom Berendsen, the country’s foreign minister.
According to Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch operator of the vessel, there are currently 27 people on board, including 25 crew members and two medical personnel. The group consists of 17 Filipinos, four Dutch nationals, four Ukrainians, one Russian, and one Polish national.
The ministers said that some crew members would enter home quarantine upon arrival, while those unable to return immediately to their home countries would be housed in designated quarantine facilities.
Regarding the vessel’s 17 Filipino crew members, the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) recommended that they remain in the Netherlands for the entire six-week quarantine period.
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