Cyprus on Thursday activated the Council of the European Union’s integrated political crisis response mechanism, in its role as the holder of the council’s rotating presidency, with regard to information sharing in relation to hantavirus, with the number of cases of the virus rising worldwide.
According to the council, “the activation of the … arrangements will facilitate exchange of information among member states and EU institutions”.
“It will serve as a platform bringing together all relevant information and all ongoing actions, with a view to strengthening situational awareness and supporting preparedness,” it added.
It went on to stress that the European centre for disease prevention and control “classifies the risk for the general population in Europe as very low”, given that “appropriate infection prevention and control measures are being implemented” and that “hantaviruses are not easily spread between people”.
The EU’s integrated political crisis response mechanism is currently active with regard to a number of global developments, including the situation in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with it having been activated in the past as a response to the 2023 earthquakes in Turkey and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The current spate of cases of hantavirus is sourced from the cruise ship the MV Hondius, which hosted an outbreak of the disease.
Earlier this week, Cyprus’ health ministry had said it is “fully prepared” for hantavirus, “both in terms of laboratory support and in terms of managing potential cases”.
Passengers disembarked from the MV Hondius at the weekend and began to be repatriated to their countries of origin, with 147 passengers from 23 countries having been aboard the ship.
One of the passengers is a Greek national, who was flown from Tenerife, where the ship had docked, to the Dutch city of Eindhoven alongside 25 fellow passengers aboard an evacuation flight on Sunday evening.
From there, the Greek national was flown to Greece’s Elefsina airbase aboard a Greek air force jet, before being transferred to the Attikon university hospital on the outskirts of Athens, where they will remain in quarantine for 45 days in a negative pressure isolation chamber.
In these cases, negative pressure chambers are used as, on account of the fact that the air pressure in the chamber is lower than outside, potentially contaminated air or other dangerous particles will not flow out of the room into non-contaminated areas.
Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis said that the person, who has not been identified, is “entering quarantine for precautionary reasons only” and “has absolutely nothing” in terms of ailments.
“It is just because they found themselves in that environment that we are taking precautionary measures. They are completely fine. There is no reason for anyone to worry,” he said.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s health ministry confirmed that three Turkish nationals who were on board the ship have been repatriated to the country, and that they, too, will be placed in quarantine upon arrival.
“In the monitoring process, which is being carried out in coordination with the relevant international authorities, it has been reported that [they] have no symptoms or signs of illness,” it said, before adding that “our health procedures will be meticulously managed”.