The Indian embassy in Spain on Sunday issued a major update on the health of the two Indians onboard the cruise ship MV Hondius which is now anchored off the coast of the Canary Islands in Spain.
It said the two Indian nationals are "healthy and asymptomatic", and were not passengers, but crew members aboard the cruise ship that saw the deaths of at least three people due to an outbreak of the Andes strain of the hantavirus.
While hantavirus is typically transmitted to humans when they come into contact with the urine, droppings, or saliva of infected rodents, the Andes is a rare strain of the hantavirus—originating in Latin America—that is capable of spreading between humans under close-contact conditions.
According to the Spanish National Center for Emergency Monitoring and Coordination (CENEM), the two Indians have been evacuated to the Netherlands, where they will be quarantined—as per the relevant health and safety protocols—for further treatment.
(More details are awaited.)
