Hantavirus live updates: Risk to general public 'very, very low'

Twelve staffers at a hospital in the Netherlands are under quarantine after treating a hantavirus patient, Dutch Health Minister Sophie Hermans told lawmakers.

"Strict procedures were followed there, but not the very strictest procedures that apply in the case of this hantavirus," Hermans said.

"This concerns the taking of blood and the disposal of urine from the patient," she said. "... The chance that staff were infected as a result is small, but because we know that we are dealing with a serious virus here, (the hospital officials) said we are erring on the side of caution. We know this is a drastic measure with a major impact, but we are taking it nonetheless."

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, stressed on Tuesday that "there is no sign that we're seeing the start of a larger outbreak."

He said the process of offloading passengers from the cruise ship was successful and he opened up about the mental struggles those on board were facing.

"Almost 150 people from 23 countries were on this ship for weeks, in what must have been a very frightening situation. Even some of the passengers were facing mental breakdown," he said at a news conference.

"There were some people around the world calling for the passengers to be contained on the ship for the full quarantine period. Our view was that it would have been inhumane and unnecessary," he said.

The director-general said that of the 11 reported cases, all are among the ship's passengers and crew.

"There have been no deaths since May 2, when WHO was first informed of the cluster of cases," he said. "All suspected and confirmed cases have been isolated and managed under strict medical supervision, minimizing any risk of further transmission."

Twelve U.S. residents are under monitoring by state health departments for hantavirus, according to officials. None of these 12 people have symptoms, officials said.

Seven of the 12 were cruise ship passengers who disembarked before the outbreak was declared: two are in Texas, two are in Georgia, one is in Virginia, one is in Arizona and one is in California.

The other five people were exposed to an infected individual during air travel, officials said. Two are in New Jersey, two are in Maryland and one is in California, officials said.

The Maryland Department of Health said it is monitoring two residents who were on an overseas flight with a MV Hondius cruise ship passenger who later tested positive for the hantavirus.

Health officials said the monitoring is out of an abundance of caution and that the risk to the public is very low.

"No hantavirus cases have been identified in Maryland since 2019. Andes virus infections have never been reported in Maryland," the Maryland Health Department said.