Tag Archives: public health

Hantavirus-Hit Hondius Passengers Repatriated to Home Countries

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Hantavirus-Hit Hondius Passengers Repatriated to Home Countries

Twenty British nationals evacuated from the Hondius are beginning 45 days of self-isolation in the UK after their chartered flight from Tenerife landed at Manchester Airport on May 10, according to the BBC.

The evacuees are isolating at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside for 72 hours before being asked to self-isolate for a further 42 days at home.

Seventeen American passengers from the vessel returned to the United States on May 11, landing in Nebraska, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

One American passenger tested mildly PCR positive for the virus, the department said, according to the New York Times.

The American passengers were transported to the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the country’s only federally funded quarantine center.

Two of the American passengers traveled in specialized biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution.

One passenger had mild symptoms and the other was the passenger who had tested mildly positive for the Andes virus, the department said.

International passengers from 23 nationalities were repatriated to their home countries following the vessel’s arrival at Granadilla port in Tenerife on May 10 at 06:24 local time, according to Oceanwide Expeditions.

Spanish nationals were given priority during the evacuation process, the Spanish health ministry said.

Passengers were ferried to shore in small launch boats and underwent medical screening before boarding evacuation flights arranged by their respective countries. Luggage stayed on the ship and will be dealt with separately.

The disembarkation was coordinated by local authorities, the WHO and international governments, with the sequence timed to the arrival of repatriation flights.

No quarantine of non-Spanish nationals took place in Spain, Oceanwide Expeditions said.

The Hondius docked in the Canary Islands on May 10 after Spain granted permission for the vessel to sail from Cape Verde.

Brazilian Health Agency Warns Against Cruise Ship Travel

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Brazilian health agency Anvisa on Sunday warned passengers against boarding cruise ships operating along the Brazilian coast after outbreaks of COVID-19 affecting crew and customers, according to a statement on its website.

The move follows a call for the “immediate temporary interruption of the cruise ship season in Brazil” as they pose a risk to public health.

“In view of recent events, Anvisa does not recommend the embarkation of passengers who have trips scheduled on cruise ships for the next few days,” the statement said.

“This recommendation takes into account the rapid change in the epidemiological scenario, the risk to the health of passengers and the unpredictability of operations at this time.”

There are five cruise liners operating on the Brazilian coast being monitored by Anvisa, the agency said.

The MSC Splendida, anchored at Santos, was banned from embarking new passengers from late Saturday and the vessel was quarantined from Sunday. The Diadema was ordered to suspend service and all passengers will need to disembark when it arrives at Santos, Anvisa said. The other three are the MSC Preziosa, Costa Fascinosa, and MSC Seaside, which face a potential boarding ban and service suspension pending further epidemiological investigation, Anvisa said. (Reporting by Ana Mano; Editing by Stephen Coates).

CANADA TO CONDITIONALLY ALLOW RETURN OF CRUISE SHIPS IN NOVEMBER

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Canada will allow cruise ships back into its waters starting in November as the COVID-19 pandemic fades, but they must fully comply with public health requirements that have yet to be finalized, Ottawa said on Thursday.

Earlier this year, Canada extended a ban on cruise ships until February 2022, citing the need to protect public health. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in a statement that the restriction would now be lifted on Nov. 1, 2021.

“We will welcome cruise ships – an important part of our tourism sector – back in Canadian waters for the 2022 season,” he said.

The news should please major operators who complained that Canada’s ban was hurting their business on the West Coast. U.S. law obliges foreign-flagged cruise ships sailing from Washington state to Alaska to make a Canadian stop.

Canada, however, has not yet lifted a ban on non-essential travel with the United States. A Canadian government official said Alghabra’s announcement would allow both countries to work on ways of safely managing the cruise sector.

“We’re working hard through our embassy, through our officials, myself, through our department, and ensuring that we maintain business as usual,” Alghabra told reporters.

He gave no indication of when the border between the United States and Canada would reopen to tourists.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Montreal on Thursday that Ottawa would make an announcement on the next steps to reopening the border in the coming weeks.

A day earlier he had said it “would be catastrophic and heartbreaking to have to go back into lockdown, as some countries are now looking at with surges in the Delta variant, because we were overly eager to reopen by a few weeks.”