Two Singapore residents who were on board hantavirus-hit cruise ship test negative: CDA
Both men will remain quarantined for 30 days from the date of last exposure as a precaution, and will be tested again before their release.
by Renee Kuek · CNA · JoinRead a summary of this article on FAST.
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SINGAPORE: Both Singapore residents who were onboard the cruise ship where there was an outbreak of hantavirus have tested negative, the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said on Friday (May 8).
CDA’s Public Health Laboratory conducted testing with multiple samples collected from the two men and confirmed that hantavirus, including the Andes virus, was not detected.
Both men have been isolated at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) after they were onboard the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius cruise ship. They were also on the same flight as a confirmed hantavirus case who later died.
As a precaution, they will be quarantined for 30 days from the date of last exposure, and testing will be conducted again before their release from quarantine, CDA said.
They will then undergo phone surveillance for the remaining monitoring period of 45 days from the date of last exposure, which is the maximum incubation period for hantavirus exposure.
“The risk to the general public in Singapore remains low,” CDA said, adding that it is closely monitoring the situation and is ready to enhance public health measures should new information show an increased public health risk to Singapore.
The first individual, a 67-year-old Singaporean, arrived in Singapore on May 2. The second, a 65-year-old Singapore permanent resident, arrived in Singapore on May 6.
CDA said on Thursday that it was notified on May 4 and May 5 that the men were on MV Hondius when it departed from the Argentinian port of Ushuaia on Apr 1. The ship later reported an outbreak of Andes hantavirus.
Both men had disembarked from the ship and were also on the same flight as a confirmed hantavirus case from St Helena to Johannesburg on Apr 25. That victim did not travel to Singapore and has since died in South Africa.
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Experts told CNA that the likelihood of the virus spreading in Singapore is minimal, given the nature of hantavirus transmission and Singapore’s strong public health response.
They added that, unlike respiratory viruses such as influenza or COVID-19, hantaviruses do not spread exponentially, making large outbreaks far less likely.
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