Ottawa, May 18 (IANS) The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has confirmed a case of hantavirus in a cruise passenger currently isolating in British Columbia following laboratory testing.PHAC said in a statement on Sunday that samples from British Columbia were sent to the agency’s National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg for confirmatory testing.According to the agency, one individual’s sample was confirmed positive for hantavirus on Saturday. A second individual, a travelling part…
Latest Hantavirus News & Updates
Addis Ababa, May 15 (IANS) The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Thursday emphasised the urgent need to enhance continental capabilities, as many African countries lack the necessary capacity to detect and respond to potential hantavirus threats.Yap Boum II, head of the emergency preparedness and response division at the Africa CDC, told an online media briefing that the agency’s recent assessment of the continent’s preparedness to hantavirus has revealed critical…
Bangkok, May 15 (IANS) Thailand’s National Communicable Disease Committee on Friday approved the designation of hantavirus as a “dangerous communicable disease.”According to the Ministry of Public Health, the new mandate requires authorities to report suspected cases within three hours, conduct disease investigations within 12 hours, and enforce a strict 42-day quarantine for high-risk contacts.Hantavirus, which can spread through respiratory droplets, with certain strains capable of human-to-hu…
Addis Ababa, May 13 (IANS) The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) urged health authorities and the general public to remain alert and strengthen Hantavirus surveillance measures despite the outbreak being categorised as low risk to public health in Africa. During a joint technical briefing, Yap Boum II, head of emergency preparedness and response division at Africa CDC, called for efforts to strengthen surveillance and remain pr…
Madrid, May 12 (IANS) The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday said additional hantavirus cases could still emerge in the coming weeks following the evacuation of passengers from the outbreak-hit cruise ship MV Hondius, while stressing that the global public health risk remains low.”Given the long incubation period of the virus, it is possible that we may see more cases in the coming weeks,” Tedros said at a joint press conference with Spanish Pr…
The Hague, May 12 (IANS) Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc) in the Netherlands has placed 12 employees in quarantine for six weeks as a precaution after incorrect procedures were followed while caring for a patient infected with hantavirus. The hospital said on Monday that the issue involved procedures for drawing and processing blood samples, as well as the disposal of the patient’s urine, reports Xinhua news agency.”This blood was processed according to standard procedure. Due to t…
Madrid, May 12 (IANS) One of the 14 Spanish evacuees from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius on Sunday has tested preliminarily positive for the virus, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia has said. Garcia wrote on X on Monday (local time) that one of the Spanish passengers currently under isolation at Madrid’s Gomez Ulla hospital had tested preliminarily positive in a PCR test conducted upon arrival.”The person remains in isolation, without symptoms and in general good health, under con…
Seoul, May 11 (IANS) North Korea has raised the alarm over the danger posed by the Hantavirus after an outbreak on a foreign cruise ship has killed three passengers, echoing its response to the COVID-19 pandemic years earlier.The Rodong Simnum, the ruling Workers’ Party’s official newspaper, reported Monday on the outbreak of the Andes strain of the virus on a ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, describing it as “raising concerns from the international community.”The US Centres for Disease Contr…
Madrid, May 11 (IANS) The Embassy of India in Madrid, Spain, stated on Sunday that two Indians who were aboard the Hantavirus-hit cruise ship are safe and asymptomatic.The Dutch-flagged vessel MV Hondius, with around 150 individuals, including two Indian nationals, arrived in Spain on Sunday.In the context of the Hantavirus outbreak, the ship anchored off the coast of the Canary Islands of Spain. The passengers onboard disembarked from the ship in accordance with the protocol established by the …
New Delhi, May 9 (IANS) The World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday said the hantavirus outbreak is not another COVID pandemic, and the current public health risk remains low.WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a message that “I know you are worried”.“The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment. But I need you to hear me clearly: this is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I …