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Everyone on hantavirus-hit ship 'high-risk contact', must be monitored: WHO
WHO emphasised strict 42-day observation for MV Hondius passengers after the outbreak, highlighting precautionary measures and a low public risk level status.
Everyone on hantavirus-hit ship 'high-risk contact', must be monitored: WHO
Health authorities stress precautionary monitoring while assessing limited public exposure risk. [File photo] / Reuters

The World Health Organization said on Saturday it considers everyone on board a cruise ship hit with a deadly hantavirus outbreak as "high-risk" contacts who should be actively monitored for 42 days.

"We classify everybody on board as what we call a high-risk contact," WHO's epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director Maria Van Kerkhove told a social media event, adding that "active monitoring and follow-up of all the passengers and crew who disembark for a 42-day period" was recommended.

She stressed that the risk to the general public and to the people of the Canary Islands, where the MV Hondius is expected to anchor on Sunday, remained "low".

This is a developing story and it will be updated…

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SOURCE:AFP