Two Singaporeans MV Hondius Passengers are Negative for Hantavirus

JAKARTA - The Singapore Communicable Disease Control and Prevention Agency (CDA) has killed two Singaporeans on the MV Hondius cruise ship who were infected with hantavirus and have been declared negative for the rare respiratory disease.

The two men, aged 65 and 67, had been traveling on the cruise ship during the Andes hantavirus outbreak.

Both were also on the same flight on April 25 from St. Helena to Johannesburg with a confirmed hantavirus patient and later died in South Africa, Channel News Asia said in its report.

The infected person did not travel to Singapore.

As reported by ANTARA Dfrom Anadolu, Saturday, May 9, the CDA said laboratory tests on several samples from both men did not find evidence of hantavirus infection, including the Andes virus strain.

As a precaution, the two men remained isolated at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases after arriving in Singapore on May 2 and May 6 respectively.

Authorities said they would undergo a 30-day quarantine from their last exposure to the virus, followed by additional testing before being released.

The agency added that the two men would remain under surveillance by phone for a total monitoring period of 45 days, in accordance with the maximum incubation period for hantavirus exposure.

"The risk to the general public in Singapore remains low," the CDA said, adding that authorities continue to monitor the situation closely.

The outbreak involving the Andes hantavirus strain has so far resulted in five confirmed cases, including three deaths among passengers associated with the cruise, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

The MV Hondius, which was carrying around 150 passengers and crew from 23 nationalities, set off from Argentina and crossed the Atlantic before reporting a number of cases of respiratory illness while sailing off the coast of Cape Verde.