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World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Tuesday that “our work is not over” to contain hantavirus after evacuations from a cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak of the illness.
The fate of the MV Hondius has sparked international alarm after three passengers died in an outbreak of the rare virus for which no vaccines or specific treatments exist.
Yet health officials have stressed that the global public health risk is low and rejected comparisons to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,” Tedros told a joint news conference in Madrid with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
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“But of course the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks,” Tedros said.
More than 120 passengers and crew on the MV Hondius were flown out from Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday and Monday, and countries have adopted different health measures for their returning evacuees.
Most countries have followed the WHO’s guidelines, which include a 42-day quarantine and constant monitoring of high-risk contacts.
“I hope they (countries) will follow the advice and recommendations we are making,” Tedros said in Madrid.
Eighteen American passengers who were on the ship returned to the U.S. on Monday and are being monitored at medical facilities in Nebraska and Georgia.
Jay Bhattacharya, the acting director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said it doesn’t make sense to sound “a five-alarm fire bell” because the risk to the public from hantavirus is “much, much lower” than what we saw with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s very different than COVID, and we should treat it differently than COVID,” Bhattacharya told “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil on Monday when asked about the lack of daily briefings on the outbreak.
The MV Hondius presented diplomatic challenges as different countries negotiated over who would receive it and treat its passengers.
Cape Verde, an archipelago off Africa’s west coast, refused to receive the ship, and it remained anchored offshore the capital Praia as three people were evacuated to Europe by air last week.
Spain allowed the vessel to anchor off the Canary Islands for the evacuation of passengers and crew on Sunday and Monday, but Cape Verde’s regional government fiercely opposed the measure.
Defending his government’s policy, Sanchez said the “world does not need more selfishness or more fear. What it needs are countries that show solidarity and want to step forward.”