Two Singapore residents who were on board the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius are currently being isolated at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), where they are being tested for the virus.
“Their test results are pending. One has a runny nose but is otherwise well, and the other is asymptomatic. The risk to the general public in Singapore is currently low,” the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said on Thursday.
CDA said it was notified on Monday and Tuesday that the individuals were on MV Hondius when it departed from the Argentinian port of Ushuaia on April 1. The ship later reported an outbreak of Andes hantavirus.
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The first individual, a 67-year-old Singaporean, arrived in Singapore on Saturday. The second, a 65-year-old Singapore permanent resident, arrived in Singapore on Wednesday.
Both men had disembarked from the ship and were also on the same flight as a confirmed hantavirus case from St Helena to Johannesburg on April 25, CDA said, adding that the confirmed case did not travel to Singapore and has since died in South Africa.
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As of Wednesday, eight cases including three deaths have been linked to the cluster on the cruise ship. Three of the cases were confirmed to be infected with hantavirus and the rest are under investigation.