• Health authorities are monitoring four people in the Western Cape linked to the hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
• The MV Hondius was travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde and carried 147 people from 23 countries.
• National health department spokesperson Foster Mohale said the four Western Cape contacts were identified as possibly exposed and are being monitored as a precaution.

The national health department says four contacts linked to a hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean are being monitored in the Western Cape.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said earlier this week that it suspected the virus might have spread between people aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship travelling from Argentina to Cape Verde, and that someone might have already been infected before boarding.

The vessel carried 147 people, including 88 passengers and 59 crew members from 23 countries. The ship made several stops across the South Atlantic, including Antarctica, the Falkland Islands and St Helena.

News24 reported that the human-to-human transmission risks posed by the hantavirus to South Africans remain “very low”, and as South Africa enters flu season, common human respiratory viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and influenza pose a much greater tangible threat.

National health department spokesperson Foster Mohale told News24 that four contacts had been identified in the Western Cape.

He said one individual was presenting with symptoms, including fever and a sore throat.

Mohale added:

Mohale reiterated that the risk to the broader public remained low.

“Current indications are that the risk to the broader public remains low. Health authorities continue to monitor the situation closely, and there is currently no indication of widespread community transmission in the Western Cape,” he said.

He added that the national Department of Health and Gauteng health contact tracing teams had transferred the cases to their Western Cape counterparts, along with travel histories and other relevant information.

“There is constant communication to update each other.

“For the Western Cape, the contact tracing is limited to the identified four individuals unless other people who travelled become symptomatic,” Mohale said.

On Thursday afternoon, the WHO held a special media briefing on the hantavirus cluster linked to the cruise ship outbreak.

WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed that eight cases had so far been identified.

“So far, eight cases have been reported, including three deaths,” he said.

“Five of the eight cases have been confirmed as hantavirus infections, while the remaining three are suspected cases.”

Tedros explained that hantaviruses are carried by rodents and can cause severe disease in humans.

He added:

He said the incident demonstrated the importance of international cooperation under global health regulations.

“WHO is working closely with governments and partners under those regulations to ensure affected patients receive care, that passengers and crew are treated safely and with dignity, and to prevent further spread of the virus.”

Tedros added that the WHO was supporting South African authorities in tracing passengers who travelled on the same flight from St Helena to Johannesburg as the woman who later died.

WHO infectious disease epidemiologist Dr Maria van Kerkhove said there were currently no additional symptomatic passengers or crew members aboard the ship, which she described as an encouraging sign.

“We have no further symptomatic patients who are on board, passengers or crew on board, I should say, which is a good sign. But, of course, there is a long incubation period of the hantavirus,” she said.

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Van Kerkhove said several precautionary measures had been implemented aboard the vessel to minimise further spread.

“What they have advised on board is disinfection of the rooms.

“They have confined people to their cabins and are providing food and water. And they have asked, as a precautionary measure, for anyone leaving their room to wear a medical mask,” she said.

She added that higher levels of protective equipment had been recommended for healthcare workers and caregivers treating suspected cases.

“We certainly advise people who are caring for those suspected of this Andes virus or hantaviruses to use a higher level of personal protective equipment,” she said.

“That guidance has been given to the people on board, and there are also the two patients in hospital in the Netherlands and a patient in ICU in South Africa.”

Van Kerkhove said human-to-human transmission of the hantavirus strain had previously been documented.

“There have been instances of human-to-human transmission, mainly among close contacts either providing clinical care or people who have had close physical contact,” she said.

“And we believe that’s happening, or has happened, in the case here on the ship as well, between the couple, the first and second cases, and also a medical doctor providing care.”

She stressed that the virus is different from respiratory viruses such as Covid-19 or influenza.

“So this is not Covid, this is not influenza. It spreads very, very differently, so there are different precautions that people are taking,” Van Kerkhove said.