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More Canadians are being contacted after having been on the same flight as a confirmed hantavirus case, according to federal health officials.
Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Joss Reimer said during a news conference Thursday that local public health units are contacting 26 people who were on the same plane as a hantavirus case. That case is stemming from the deadly hantavirus outbreak that started on board luxury cruise ship MV Hondius.
The 26 people are considered low-risk, said Reimer, because there’s no evidence that they sat near or had any direct or prolonged contact with the hantavirus case. Reimer did not say what provinces these people live in.
“Local public health is working to get in contact with all 26 of those individuals to ensure that they are aware that they were on that flight, that they have information about what symptoms they need to be watching for and that they are being monitored throughout the at-risk period,” said Reimer.
This brings the total number of Canadians connected to the hantavirus outbreak to at least 36. That includes nine high-risk contacts, six of whom are passengers from the ship.
Dr. Joss Reimer, Canada’s chief public health officer, says her team is working with provincial and territorial counterparts to create national guidance as the country sees both low-risk and higher-risk exposures to hantavirus related to a cluster of cases linked to a cruise ship.
Everyone else, according to federal health officials, remains low-risk. The total also includes one person who is now deemed low-risk, after previously being identified as high-risk.
A high-risk contact is someone who was on the luxury cruise ship or was in direct, prolonged contact with a confirmed or suspected hantavirus case.
Though more people have been identified as being related to this outbreak, Reimer reiterated that the risk to the broader public remains low.
Local health units might ask people to self-isolate
According to Reimer, because the individuals are considered low-risk, they are not being told to self-isolate by federal health officials.
But, she added, it’s up to the discretion of local public health units, who are doing their own risk assessment. Based on additional information, Reimer said people might be told to self-isolate.
For example, Ontario’s Ministry of Health said Tuesday that seven residents considered to be low-risk have been told to self-isolate for 45 days.
Meanwhile in Quebec, eight residents identified as being on the KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25 are being told to self-monitor for symptoms and not self-isolate.
According to Quebec’s director of public health Caroline Quach, the reason they aren’t self-isolating is because they had “really minimal” contact with the confirmed hantavirus case.
That case was the Dutch woman, who was only temporarily on board the flight, before she was removed because she wasn’t feeling well.
As a result, Quach said they are asking the affected residents to “follow their temperature and monitor their symptoms,” and reach out to their local public health if they start to feel unwell.
Canadians not being tested
Even though other countries are testing their citizens who were passengers on board the luxury cruise ship, MV Hondius, Canadian health officials say at this time, they will only test people who show symptoms.
“We may offer testing to asymptomatic people if based on the information we gather from our international partners, from our expert group here on the ground, demonstrates that the benefits of the testing would outweigh the risks,” she said.
The biggest risk, Reimer said, is that people will get a falsely negative test and not take their isolation requirements seriously.
