The last plane carrying passengers and crew evacuated from the cruise ship Mv Hondius, where an outbreak of hantavirus had been detected, also landed in the last few hours in Eindhoven in the Netherlands. The two aircraft from the Spanish Canary Islands were carrying a total of 28 people, according to the Dutch Foreign Ministry. On board the first plane were six passengers from Hondius (four Australians, one New Zealander and a British citizen resident in Australia), who will be accommodated in a quarantine centre near the airport before returning to Australia.
Mobilised WHO epidemiologists
Dressed in white medical coats and masks they stepped off the medical plane, clutching white bags containing their personal belongings in their hands, before entering the terminal. The second plane carried 19 crew members, a British doctor, an epidemiologist from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and another from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). They wore only masks and carried large white bags with their personal belongings. The Mv Hondius left the Spanish island of Tenerife yesterday bound for Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where it will dock to be disinfected. There are still 25 crew members and two medical personnel on board; the ship is also carrying the body of a German passenger who died during the cruise.
In quarantine 12 employees of a Dutch hospital
A dozen employees of the Nijmegen University Medical Centre will undergo a precautionary quarantine for six weeks after possible exposure to the Hantavirus. This was stated by the Radboudumc hospital quoted by the Dutch media, explaining that the workers did not follow the specific protocol in handling the blood and urine of a patient who had been hospitalised since 6 May because he tested positive for the viral infection after travelling on the cruise ship Hondius.
The patient is one of three transferred last week from Cape Verde to the Netherlands. A second patient was transported to a hospital in Germany and tested negative for Hantavirus, while the third was admitted to the University Medical Centre in Leiden.
In the statement, the university medical centre expressed regret for the incident, assuring that ‘we will carefully investigate what happened also to prevent it from happening again in the future’.