90-Second Read: Spaniard tests positive for Hantavirus in cruise-linked oubtreak

A Spanish national who was aboard the Hantavirus-hit cruise ship has tested positive for the virus, Spanish health officials said Monday. The new case was announced a day after World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the cruise-linked outbreak had 12 cases. They have now been able to leave their rooms and share the common areas." On Sunday, Ghebreyesus said the cruise-linked Hantavirus outbreak was "stable for now. The unidentified patient was among the 14 Spanish nationals who disembarked from the vessel in Tenerife, Canary Islands, on the morning of May 10, after the Hantavirus cluster was identified earlier that month.

Health authorities stress that the case was detected within the isolation and control system already in place, and therefore does not change the risk situation for the general population or alter the ongoing epidemiological response measures. The ship with about 150 passengers and crew from nearly two dozen nations on board were forced to dock in the Canary Islands earlier this month due to the Hantavirus outbreak that at that time was responsible for two deaths and eight cases, six confirmed and two probable. With the announcement Monday, two Spanish nationals have tested positive since disembarking from the vessel, with the first positive case being made public by the ministry on May 11.

Among those who disembarked were the 14 Spanish nationals, including 13 passengers and one crew member, who remain at Gomez Ulla Hospital. On Friday, the ministry said that those under monitoring who have been asymptomatic and tested negative for the virus during the first 28 days from the time they were admitted could complete their mandatory 42 days of monitoring at home. The 28-day hospital quarantine is to end around June 7.