Hantavirus outbreak: Indian embassy in Spain offers major update on 2 Indians aboard cruise ship 'MV Hondius'

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.

"The Ambassador is in close contact with the Spanish authorities and the two Indian nationals (crew members) and is regularly monitoring the situation to assure the well-being and safety of the Indian nationals," the Indian embassy statement read.

There were more than 140 people onboard the Dutch-flagged hantavirus-stricken ship that departed from Argentina last month. Most passengers onboard were identified to be from the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Spain. The crew members were mostly from the Netherlands, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Poland. 

None of those people on the MV Hondius had shown symptoms of the virus, officials from Spain’s health ministry, the World Health Organization (WHO), and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said, as per an Associated Press report.

In that regard, a number of special repatriation flights are expected to arrive at the Canary Islands throughout Sunday (local), following the arrival of such flights from France and Canada.

This comes after the deaths of three people aboard the ship, of which two had tested positive for hantavirus, which the WHO has so far flagged as having a "low" health risk.

However, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has also pointed out that the incubation period of the Andes strain could be "up to six weeks", which "made it possible that more cases may be reported" in the coming days.