{"id":36725,"date":"2026-05-08T04:50:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T04:50:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/36725\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T04:50:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T04:50:33","slug":"three-canadians-isolating-at-home-after-hantavirus-outbreak-on-cruise-ship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/36725\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Canadians isolating at home after hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The MV Hondius cruise ship departs the port in Praia, Cape Verde, on May 6. It is expected to arrive in the Canary Islands on the weekend.Misper Apawu\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Two Canadians who disembarked a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak<\/a> have returned home, where they are isolating and being monitored by local health authorities, federal ministers say.<\/p>\n

A third person who was not on the ship but came in contact with a symptomatic individual on a flight home is following similar protocols, Health Minister Marjorie Michel and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in a joint statement on Thursday. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis individual is not considered a high-risk close contact by the World Health Organization,\u201d the statement said. <\/p>\n

Ms. Michel and Ms. Anand added all three individuals remain asymptomatic and they have returned to Ontario and Quebec. <\/p>\n

At a news conference on Thursday, Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said two people who were on the cruise have returned to the province.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are getting regular updates on not only these two individuals but preparing to see if there are any other individuals who could perhaps return to Canada and Ontario,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The incubation and monitoring period will be about 30 days, Ms. Jones added.<\/p>\n

Ms. Jones\u2019s remarks and the statement by the ministers include the most updated information about the status of Canadians who were on board a Oceanwide Expeditions cruise ship, where there was an outbreak of the Andes virus strain of the hantavirus. The virus killed three people on board.<\/p>\n

The World Health Organization (WHO) says<\/a> hantavirus infections in humans are primarily acquired through contact with the urine, feces or saliva of infected rodents. While rare, severe disease can be deadly and human transmission has been reported in previous outbreaks of the Andes strain.<\/p>\n

Ms. Michel and Ms. Anand said four Canadians are among the stranded passengers aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship off the west coast of Africa. Consular officials are on their way to Spain\u2019s Canary Islands to monitor and assist with the process when they disembark the ship, they added.<\/p>\n

Take hantavirus precautions when opening cottages, sheds, PHAC expert advises<\/a><\/p>\n

The vessel set sail from Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 and remains off the coast of Cape Verde. It is expected to arrive in the Canary Islands on Saturday or Sunday.<\/p>\n

The federal government says that it is working with the WHO and others on necessary measures to keep Canadians safe.<\/p>\n

Isaac Bogoch, an infectious-disease physician with the University Health Network in Toronto, said on Thursday there appears to be good co-ordination happening, including contact tracing, at the international level. <\/p>\n

Additionally, he noted that three Canadians are isolating, which is \u201ceverything you would want to see in an outbreak setting.\u201d <\/p>\n

Earlier Thursday, the WHO held a briefing to share its latest information about the hantavirus outbreak, where officials confirmed five cases among individuals aboard the ship and three other suspected cases. <\/p>\n

WHO officials stressed that the risk to the public is low. It intends to continue to monitor the situation and update its risk assessment.<\/p>\n

Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said officials are investigating the cause of the outbreak, adding that the first two individuals confirmed to have the virus \u201ctravelled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip which included visits to sites where the species of rat known to carry the virus was present.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the WHO will work with governments and health officials to \u201cprovide care for those who are affected, protect the safety and dignity of passengers, and prevent onward spread of the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n

-With a report from Mostafa Al-A\u2019sar in Toronto<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The MV Hondius cruise ship departs the port in Praia, Cape Verde, on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36726,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-36725","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-pei","42":"tag-photos","43":"tag-political-news","44":"tag-political-opinion","45":"tag-politics","46":"tag-politics-news","47":"tag-quebec","48":"tag-sports-news","49":"tag-technology","50":"tag-travel","51":"tag-trudeau","52":"tag-us-news","53":"tag-world-news","54":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}