British doctor evacuated as ship linked to outbreak to leave Cape Verde
A British doctor with suspected hantavirus has been medically evacuated from the cruise ship linked to the outbreak, which is believed to have originated from a birdwatching expedition in Argentina.
The crew member, understood to be a doctor on the ship, along with a Dutch crew member and another passenger were taken from the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius for onward travel to the Netherlands, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.
Spanish health officials said the British medic is now in a more “stable condition” after previously being in a “critical condition”.
The evacuation means the ship can now continue on its three-day journey to the Canary Islands after Spanish authorities gave permission for the boat to dock.
But a row erupted after the president of the Canary Islands expressed concern over the ship docking in Tenerife.
It comes as the Associated Press reported the Argentine government’s hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching outing in the city of Ushuaia before boarding.
Two Argentine officials told the news agency that the couple visited a landfill during the bird-watching tour where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.
The ship has been anchored off Cape Verde while arrangements were put in place to evacuate the crew members.
Passengers are confined to their cabins while “disinfection and other public health measures are carried out”, the WHO said on Tuesday.
Tour operator Oceanwide Expeditions said two infectious disease doctors are being sent from the Netherlands to the ship and will “remain with the vessel after its anticipated departure from Cape Verde”.
The leader of the regional government of the Canaries expressed concern over the plan for onward travel to Tenerife, with Fernando Clavijo writing on X that he has requested a meeting with Spanish President Pedro Sanchez “due to the lack of co-ordination and information regarding the cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak”.
In a briefing, Spanish health minister Monica Garcia said none of the remaining passengers on board have symptoms.
She said the boat will dock in Tenerife and people will be repatriated to their own countries with “medical guarantees”, and “all the transportation will be done trying to avoid contact with local citizens”.
Jose Miguel Cisneros Herreros, head of the infectious diseases department at the Virgen del Rocio University Hospital in Seville, said: “It is right for the Spanish government to allow the ship to dock in our country, because the passengers and crew need to disembark and be assessed, and we are the nearest country with a healthcare system capable of doing so.”
Some 19 British nationals were listed as passengers on the ship, which was sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde, with four British crew members.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said plans are being made for the “safe onward travel” of Britons on the ship.
On Wednesday, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The Foreign Office is working urgently to support the UKHSA’s (UK Health Security Agency’s) work overseas and to make sure British nationals on the MV Hondius can all get safely home with proper protection for public health.
“Foreign Office consular staff are in direct contact with British nationals onboard the ship and stand ready to provide further assistance to any British national in need of support overseas 24/7 – our crisis response centre has been operating for the last few days to provide support.
“Ministers are in close touch with our Dutch and Spanish counterparts and we have been working with other countries to facilitate the medical evacuations, to support our overseas territories and to get British nationals home safely as quickly as possible.”
The WHO said there are eight cases, three of which are confirmed, after a passenger on the boat presented himself to a hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, and was confirmed to have the virus.
A British passenger and the British crew member are among those taken ill in the suspected outbreak, which has been linked to three deaths.
The passenger was medically evacuated from the ship on April 27 and remains in isolation in hospital in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Commenting on the variant of the virus linked to the outbreak, the Andes virus, Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group at the University of Oxford, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “With this particular hantavirus, the Andes virus, it is known very rarely to spread between people with close contact, usually symptomatic individuals who are in close contact with each other.
“That’s important because it means it is very easy to isolate people who are unwell and to follow sort of quarantine and so on to avoid spread to other people.”
He added: “I think the risk is essentially zero of spread outside of this particular outbreak, because the authorities have recognised this and they know exactly what to do to make sure that the individuals are isolated and there’s no-one with transmission now that we know what we’re dealing with.”
In an update posted online, Spanish health authorities said that the ship is expected to arrive within 72 to 96 hours.
Officials said that passengers will be disembarked in a “controlled” way with “direct transfer from the port to the airport and subsequent return to their countries of origin, avoiding at all times transit through spaces open to the general population”.
It comes as health officials in South Africa are looking for people who had possible contact with one of the suspected cases.
A man died on board on April 11 and on April 24 his body was disembarked at St Helena, with his wife accompanying the repatriation.
But the wife became unwell during the return journey and had later died.
Meanwhile the British passenger who became unwell was medically evacuated to South Africa on April 27.
The South African Health Ministry said officials have traced 42 out of 62 people they believe had contact with the two infected passengers who travelled there, the Associated Press reported.
Elsewhere the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said passengers and crew on board the ship are being considered as “close contacts” of those infected.
A Threat Assessment Brief posted by the European health agency states: “We consider everyone on the ship to be close contacts, due to the closed setting and shared social areas and activities, aligned with the precautionary principle.”
But it said the strain of the virus “does not transmit easily so it is unlikely that it would cause many cases or a widespread outbreak in the community, if infection prevention and control measures are applied”.
It adds: “The cruise ship company and the relevant port authorities have also been advised on how to prepare for the management of cases and contacts (e.g. isolation of cases, use of appropriate personal protective equipment, testing, etc).”
The technical brief says symptomatic people should be medically evacuated while those on the boat should receive a diagnostic test when they disembark, though it points out that a negative test “may not exclude infection”.
“Disembarking passengers should be provided with clear instructions and recommendations until their diagnosis is confirmed or ruled out,” it adds.
Dr Pamela Rendi-Wagner, from the ECDC, said: “Many uncertainties still remain with this hantavirus outbreak and it is important that we take a precautionary approach at this point in time to reduce the likelihood of further transmission.
“An ECDC expert is on the ship to gain more insights and inform public health action.”
Published: by Radio NewsHub