The Minister of Health, Mónica García, reported at noon this Friday that during the tracing and notification efforts of the European Union's Early Warning System for contacts of hantavirus patients who left the cruise ship on the Atlantic island of Saint Helena, a Spanish passenger with mild symptoms compatible with hantavirus has been detected.
García has indicated that two people who traveled to Spain were sitting near the Dutch patient who died in South Africa from hantavirus after leaving the tourist cruise ship MV Hondius, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, on the island of Saint Helena next to the body of her husband, also Dutch, the first to die from this outbreak.
According to the airline KLM, the Dutch passenger boarded a flight between Johannesburg and Amsterdam, but was ultimately not allowed to fly because she was sick. The woman died the following day in a South African emergency service. After testing, she tested positive for this virus.
The World Health Organization is considering that this couple may be the ones who originated the hantavirus outbreak on the plane, as they had both been traveling through Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay on a birdwatching trip.
Health has reported that one of the people who traveled to Spain has been located in Alicante and presents mild symptoms compatible with hantavirus. Therefore, they have been isolated "preventively", while the National Microbiology Center analyzes the diagnostic samples that will be performed on them, as stipulated by the protocol recently approved by the Public Health Commission.
Regarding the second identified person, they remained a few days in Barcelona and returned to South Africa. Therefore, Health has added that it maintains international coordination to locate her.
The Spanish ministry has indicated that the risk to the general population remains "very low", that surveillance systems are functioning correctly and that there is "permanent coordination" between health authorities.
At the same time, the Ministry of Health has reported that this Friday the protocol for the management of Spanish citizens who will be disembarked this Sunday from the MV Hondius to the Granadilla dock in Tenerife has already been approved, and who will subsequently be transferred to the Gómez Ulla Hospital where a PCR will be performed on them.
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