90-Second Read: Efforts to control Hantavirus outbreak reach global scale while cases in Spain and France fuel uncertainty

This succession of news reports and new cases has fueled uncertainty about whether the world has reached a point where bad news will begin to pile up. All suspected and confirmed cases have been isolated and managed under strict medical supervision, minimizing the risk of further transmission. The coordinated, global effort being made by governments, health authorities, and international organizations to contain the outbreak is immense. And there was no hesitation regarding the case of the French citizen admitted to the ICU, whose health deteriorated rapidly while she was being evacuated from Tenerife.

As an example, Tedros reported on Tuesday that all passengers on the cruise ship, "even those who disembarked in the most remote locations," have been identified and are under observation to complete their quarantines. One of the first hospitalized cases was that of a British citizen who was traveling on the MV Hondius and was evacuated to South Africa. Unlike Spain, France, and the United Kingdom, where quarantines will be carried out under supervision in health centers, in the Netherlands they can be done in the private homes of those affected and the government "assumes that people will comply with the regulations". Should new contacts be identified, health authorities will conduct an individualized assessment of their situation, allowing them to quarantine in other facilities designated for isolation and health monitoring.

The Ministry of Health reported on Monday night that the first PCR test performed on him yielded a "provisional positive" result, but this became definitive on Tuesday. The World Health Organization (WHO) sought to dispel this concern on Tuesday with statements from its Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, following his meeting at the Moncloa Palace with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. All identified contacts, regardless of where they quarantine, will be subject to enhanced health surveillance for the first 28 days, the period considered to be most likely for the appearance of symptoms consistent with the disease. Tests performed on the other 13 people who were traveling on board the cruise ship have come back negative.

For now, they are doing well and are asymptomatic, according to health authorities. The prevention measures, however, extend to dozens of countries, since people of 23 nationalities traveled on the Antarctic cruise, in addition to those from other origins considered contacts for having been with one of the deceased on a plane in South Africa. The same situation applies to the two Spanish contacts under surveillance because they shared a plane with one of the deceased in South Africa.