14 Spaniards who traveled on the MV Hondius cruise ship will be required to undergo a 14-day quarantine, a court in Madrid has ruled.
This is reported by the Spanish newspaper El Pais.
A court in Madrid has approved an order from the Spanish Ministry of Health that makes quarantine mandatory for seven days, with the possibility of extension to 14 days, and provides for strict penalties for non-compliance.
The Spaniards who traveled on the MV Hondius cruise ship will be isolated at Spain's central defense hospital. They will be tested for traces of the virus in their bodies upon arrival. The test will be repeated after 7 days, and if no traces of the virus are found in their bodies, the person will be released from quarantine.
On May 8, two cases of hantavirus infection were reported, one in Spain and the other on the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha. These cases are not directly linked to passengers on the MV Hondius. The cases are linked to people who left the ship early.
Hantavirus outbreak aboard MV Hondius
On May 4, it became known that three people died on the MV Hondius cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean due to an outbreak of hantavirus.
According to preliminary data, the source of the infection may have been a Dutch couple who contracted the virus in South America. They then set off on a trip during which the virus could have spread to other passengers. Both later died.
In total, there are 149 passengers on board the ship, who are citizens of 23 countries. According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, five of them are Ukrainians. There are currently no signs of deterioration in their health.
Spanish authorities later agreed to accept the ship in the Canary Islands, but the head of the archipelago's government, Fernando Clavijo, said he was against it.
Hantaviruses are a group of viruses that can cause severe illness in humans, including damage to the lungs, heart, and kidneys. Rodents are the carriers of this infection. The World Health Organization has stated that some forms of the infection have a mortality rate of up to 50%.
According to the WHO, humans are most often infected through contact with the urine, saliva, or feces of infected rodents. The virus can also enter the body through inhalation of contaminated dust while cleaning enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces.