>>1512344
The cruise ship carrying almost 150 people at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak was marooned in the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday, waiting for two ill crew members to be evacuated for treatment.

Some rare human-to-human transmission of the virus may have taken place on the luxury cruise ship, the World Health Organization said in an update.

At least three people have died, while there are two laboratory-confirmed cases and five suspected cases of hantavirus, the WHO said in a briefing early Tuesday.

One of the sickened crew members had mild symptoms and the other severe, the ship’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said in a news release. They both require urgent medical care, the company said.

In an update, the company said both crew members and another person will be medically evacuated via two specialized aircraft that are en route to Cape Verde. They will then be transported to the Netherlands.

After the patients are evacuated, the ship "will begin repositioning" with plans to travel to the Canary Islands, either Gran Canaria or Tenerife.

Tests are ongoing in South Africa on the nature of the infection, but WHO experts suspect it is the Andes variant, which is transmissible from person to person.

Oceanwide Expeditions said that the virus was identified in a female Dutch passenger who had disembarked in Saint Helena. The passenger later died on April 27, the news release states.

The Dutch-flagged Hondius is just outside Praia, the capital city of Cape Verde in West Africa, after that country refused its request to dock there. According to the ship-tracking site MarineTraffic, the Hondius has not moved since at least Monday morning.

The cruise ship company said that most passengers are "generally composed" and the vibe on the vessel is "calm."

"Oceanwide Expeditions is working to provide clarity and reassurance to guests and expedite their disembarkation and medical screening. Oceanwide Expeditions team members are working diligently to support all individuals on board and uphold stringent health and safety procedures as part of Oceanwide Expeditions’ SHIELD response plan," the company said.

One passenger on the ship made an emotional video pleading for answers.

"All we want right now is to feel safe, to have clarity, and to get home," Jake Rosmarin said.

Oceanwide Expeditions said it plans to sail to Las Palmas or Tenerife, where further medical screenings could take place. It can't move, however, until one British and one Dutch crew member are airlifted to a hospital in the Netherlands for urgent medical care, the WHO said.

"The plan is to medevac those two individuals. That's in the works; that's underway. The plan is for the ship to continue to the Canary Islands. We're speaking to the Spanish authorities," Maria Van Kerkhove, an American epidemiologist and technical adviser to the WHO, said at the news briefing.

The evacuation is being organized by the Dutch government and will involve specialist aircraft.

The Spanish Health Ministry said it would send a team of epidemiologists to the ship on Tuesday to assess people on board. "This will help with decisions regarding repatriation processes and the ship’s route," the ministry said.

Contact tracing is underway to identify those who left the ship during its voyage and those they may have come into contact with.

The ship set off from Ushuaia, southern Argentina, on April 1 and stopped at multiple remote locations, including mainland Antarctica and the Atlantic islands of Tristan da Cunha and St. Helena.

In a lengthy summary of what is known about the outbreak, the WHO said passengers and crew began to feel ill between April 6 and 28, with the symptoms including “fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, rapid progression to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and shock.”

An unidentified British man is being treated in an intensive care unit in Johannesburg, South Africa. This patient was evacuated from Ascension Island in the Atlantic, one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth.

Another confirmed case was a Dutch woman who died en route to the Netherlands after her husband died at sea.

Signaling the likely direction of an ongoing investigation, the WHO said the "extent of passenger contact with local wildlife during the voyage, or prior to boarding in Ushuaia, remains undetermined."

Van Kerkhove said the WHO’s working assumption was that the Dutch passengers who died, a married couple ages 69 and 70, were infected on the boat.

Passengers took part in a range of activities while visiting destinations, including bird-watching, but it's not known exactly what the current patients and the three who died did prior to their infections.

The WHO said it had been informed that there were no rats on the ship.

"We do believe there may be some human-to-human transmissions happening, among very close contact. ... That’s our working assumption," Van Kerkhove said. "Some people on the ship were couples; they were sharing rooms, so that’s quite intimate contact."

This is the first outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship, Van Kerkhove said, adding that there is no known treatment. Patients are offered "supportive" care such as breathing aids.

Strict isolation and hygiene protocols are being followed by the 88 passengers and 59 crew on board, including 17 Americans.

Addressing those still isolating on the Hondius, she said: "We have heard from people on the ship, we hear you, we know you are scared."

>>1512348
>The WHO said it had been informed that there were no rats on the ship.
Hantavirus cases in the US mostly occur from deer mouse droppings/urine. There doesn't actually need to be rodents on the ship for there to be hantavirus cases, only rodent waste.

>>1512344
bunch of privilaged cunts they should all be quarantined and sent to the furnace

Hanta virus?
God damn deer mice!
Hanta virus, what's that?

God damn deer mice!
Hanta virus, what's that?

>>1512368
Rats piss on food stores all the time, it’s conceivable that something like that occurred
>three people have died, while there are two laboratory-confirmed cases and five suspected cases of hantavirus
5-10 infections per ~150 pop.
Also at least two of the dead were elderly

>>1512481
>it’s conceivable that something like that occurred
That's the weird thing.
Hantavirus is very rare. In the US there are only ever 20-50 cases each year. Human to human transmission is even rarer.

uh oh, this is staring to sound like january 2020
>Man in hospital with hantavirus after travelling on ship - Swiss government

>It's happening again
First suspected case outside ship
A French national who was not on board the MV Hondius has contracted hantavirus after taking a flight with a passenger from the cruise ship, French media reports, citing a health ministry source.
This would be the first person to have contracted the disease who was not on the ship.
They were identified as part of contact tracing investigations taking place for confirmed cases.
Tests are ongoing to confirm whether it is the Andes strain - the only type of hantavirus that can be transmitted between humans.
We have approached the French health ministry for more information.
https://news.sky.com/story/three-dead-as-virus-breaks-out-on-atlantic-cruise-ship-13503266?postid=11638466#liveblog-body

Countries can refuse to let them dock. Just leave them out there like a floating petri dish. Only fucking idiots go on cruises.

it already escaped on a flight. 2020 2 electric boogaloo