Finland has classified disease caused by the Andes strain of hantavirus as a generally hazardous infectious disease after a deadly outbreak linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius.
The government approved the measure on Monday following recommendations from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, known as THL, and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The decision gives authorities legal powers to order quarantine measures for people exposed to the virus.
Social Security Minister Sanni Grahn-Laasonen said the change was intended as a precaution.
“The amendment is needed so authorities have the tools required under the Communicable Diseases Act to prevent any possible spread in Finland,” she said in a statement. “The current expert assessment is that the risk posed to the public is extremely low.”
The Andes virus is a rare hantavirus strain found mainly in South America. Unlike most hantaviruses, which spread from rodents to humans, the Andes strain is capable of limited human-to-human transmission through close and prolonged contact.
No vaccine or targeted treatment exists for the disease, which can lead to severe hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
The decision followed a growing international response to the outbreak aboard the Dutch-flagged expedition vessel MV Hondius, which travelled from Argentina across the South Atlantic before docking in Tenerife on Sunday.
Three passengers have died during the outbreak, including a Dutch couple and a German national. The World Health Organization confirmed that at least seven cases of Andes hantavirus have been identified among passengers, with two more suspected cases under investigation.
Finnish authorities said two people living in Finland were potentially exposed during a flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on 25 April. The pair have already returned to Finland and health officials are assessing whether quarantine measures are required.
THL department director Otto Helve said quarantine decisions would be made individually and that exposed people had so far been instructed to avoid close contact with others. Testing for the virus is currently carried out in Sweden, although Finland could rapidly establish domestic testing if cases increase.
Health authorities across Europe and North America are tracing passengers and contacts linked to the ship. A French woman evacuated from the vessel tested positive after arriving in Paris and remains in serious condition in a specialist infectious diseases unit.
An American passenger repatriated to Nebraska also tested positive but remains asymptomatic, US officials said.
British authorities have placed 20 UK nationals in supervised isolation at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside after they arrived on a charter flight from Tenerife. The UK Health Security Agency said the passengers would remain under observation before completing a further 42 days of isolation at home.
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at UKHSA, said all evacuees were currently healthy and asymptomatic. He stressed that the virus was “very different” from Covid-19 and that the public risk remained low.
The WHO recommends a 42-day quarantine period for exposed people because of the virus’s unusually long incubation period.
Spanish authorities described the evacuation effort in Tenerife as “complex” and “unprecedented”. More than 100 passengers from over 20 countries were repatriated within two days while wearing protective equipment.
The remaining passengers and crew are due to leave the vessel on flights to the Netherlands before the ship sails to Rotterdam for disinfection.
Oceanwide Expeditions captain Jan Dobrogowski described recent weeks aboard the vessel as “extremely challenging” and praised passengers and crew for their discipline during the outbreak.
The outbreak is believed to have originated in Argentina, where the Andes strain circulates among rodents. WHO officials have repeatedly stated that the virus is not expected to develop into a wider pandemic.
HT