Two Singaporean men who were aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship, which has been hit by a hantavirus outbreak, have tested negative for the virus, according to Singapore’s Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA). The CDA’s public health laboratory analysed multiple samples from the individuals and confirmed that hantavirus, including the Andes virus, was not detected.
The two men, aged 67 and 65, were isolated at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases after disembarking from the ship, which departed from Ushuaia, Argentina, on 1 April. As a precaution, they will be quarantined for 30 days from the date of last exposure and will undergo further testing before release. They will then be monitored by phone for the remainder of the 45-day maximum incubation period for hantavirus.
The CDA stated that the risk to the general public in Singapore remains low and that it is closely monitoring the situation. The two Singaporeans were on the same flight as a confirmed hantavirus case from St Helena to Johannesburg on 25 April. The infected individual did not travel to Singapore and has since died in South Africa.
Globally, three people—a Dutch couple and a German national—have died from hantavirus on the MV Hondius. There have been five confirmed and three suspected cases, including two people who returned to the UK and a British man hospitalised in the Netherlands. The World Health Organisation is conducting detailed investigations, including laboratory testing and epidemiological studies.
Hantavirus is typically spread by inhaling contaminated rodent droppings and is rarely transmitted between humans. Meanwhile, Spanish authorities are preparing to receive over 140 passengers and crew when the ship arrives in Tenerife on Sunday. Passengers will be taken to a cordoned-off area, and both the UK and US have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens.
