Passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship board a EuroAtlantic Airways aircraft bound for Canada. The Canadians will isolate for 21 days after returning from the ship where a hantavirus outbreak sickened several people and killed three.Borja Suarez/Reuters
Four Canadian passengers who were onboard the cruise ship where people were stricken by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, returned to Canada on a chartered plane after departing the Canary Islands.
They were among dozens of people from around the world who were evacuated from the ship on Sunday. Three people – a Dutch couple and a German national – have died from the outbreak on the MV Hondius. In addition, five other people have fallen ill, according to a World Health Organization update on Friday.
The Canadians landed at Saguenay-Bagotville Airport in Quebec on Sunday afternoon, where the government said they would be transferred to a second flight destined for British Columbia.
The government response involves the Public Health Agency of Canada, Global Affairs, and the Canadian Armed Forces, which is providing logistics support, access to its facilities and is assisting in the transfer of the passengers to provincial health authorities in B.C.
Passengers and crew started disembarking from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak on Sunday. The process is being overseen by global health officials and expected to last until Monday.
Reuters
Bonnie Henry, the B.C. Provincial Health Officer, said the four people were asymptomatic Sunday morning in Spain.
“Upon arrival, they will be screened and assessed by local public health officials and transported directly to safe, pre-arranged lodgings, where they will begin an initial 21-day self-isolation period under daily monitoring by public health teams,” Dr. Henry said.
“At no point during their arrival or isolation period will they be in contact with the public. They will be monitored daily by local public health teams to ensure that they remain well and are safely isolating. It has been a very challenging time for these four Canadians and public health teams are committed to supporting them through this process.”
After 21 days, the passengers will be reassessed and a decision will be made about whether they need to continue to isolate for up to a maximum of 42 days in total.
The passengers were among the 147 tourists and crew onboard MV Hondius as of May 2, after 34 passengers and crew previously disembarked.
They spent the last several weeks on an eco tourism cruise. It’s believed the first patient to fall ill and later die came in contact with the Andes strain of the virus while still on land, possibly at a site in Argentina popular with birdwatchers. The virus, which is often spread by rodent urine or feces, in this case appears to have also spread by human contact on the ship, which raised fears that more passengers or crew could eventually fall ill. The virus has an incubation period of up to six weeks.
Countries evacuate passengers from cruise hit by hantavirus outbreak
British paratroopers drop onto overseas territory with medical supplies for hantavirus patient
Some of the people who are ill remain hospitalized in South Africa, the Netherlands and Switzerland. On the remote island of Tristan da Cunha, a British overseas territory, a suspected case is being treated by a team of medical specialists parachuted in by the U.K. military.
Passengers from countries including the Netherlands, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the United States also disembarked and were flown home on Sunday. They were first transferred to land on small boats from MV Hondius, then taken to Tenerife airport on military buses. The ship will sail on to the Netherlands with 30 crew where it will be disinfected.
Spain’s health ministry downplayed the risk to the broader population. It added that rodents had not been detected aboard the ship.
The passengers headed to B.C. are being accompanied by a Public Health Agency of Canada quarantine officer, the government said.
A photograph published by the AFP news agency shows Canadians boarding a chartered plane Sunday. The image is of a person in a wide brimmed hat and ventilator mask, their shoulders covered in a plastic gown, carrying a bag of belongings as they are met at the door of the aircraft by someone in medical protective gear. A second person wearing sunglasses, a ventilator mask and a plastic gown stands a few steps behind.
Dr. Henry said once they arrive at the lodgings where they will self-isolate, the passengers will have access to medical care and other supports. It’s not clear whether the four passengers normally reside in B.C.
“We do know that some of the four have connections with British Columbia, and that’s why we’ve agreed that this is an appropriate place,” Dr. Henry said, adding that they had been through a difficult period of uncertainty. “Our priority is to make sure that they are safely isolated and monitored.”
Two Canadians who returned home earlier after being exposed to the virus are self-isolating in the Grey-Bruce region of Ontario. Another is isolating at home in Quebec.
Dr. Henry stressed that although people may feel understandably concerned, hantavirus is not considered a disease with pandemic potential and does not spread like other respiratory viruses such as COVID-19.
“In the unlikely event that symptoms develop, British Columbia has established protocols, experienced clinical teams and specialized capacity, including the B.C. Biocontainment Treatment Centre at Surrey Memorial Hospital, to safely assess and care for patients.”
Dr. Henry said people in the province can be reassured that the situation “can be managed safely and supportively for everyone involved.”
“We are hoping that none of them are infected and that none of them will develop disease, but the incubation period – the period between the time you were exposed and the time you might develop disease – is as long as six weeks. So we have to wait out that six weeks.”
With a report from Reuters