LIVE: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Briefing on Hantavirus Situation | AC1G

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]in which quarantine is implemented. ACDC recommends self quarantine and this can be implemented of course in different ways and it is it is the countries which decide on how this uh is implemented nationally. Um and the decision may can can be based on different uh types of or different considerations including the availability of institutional quarantine. Also it can be on a case-byase basis. So uh if a if a person is able to safely quarantine at home and has the facilities at home and is close to a medical facility in case there is a need for evacuation in case symptoms develop um then that could be fine. But if if a passenger for example does not have a hospital nearby which has adequate facilities to take care to take care of him or her in case of symptoms then maybe institution quarantine is is more appropriate. So this this can be decided both at national level and but also on a specific uh individual level to to take the best the most appropriate care for the passengers. We need to remember they have been on a boat for a month uh not not visiting not seeing their loved ones. So it it this needs to be taken into consideration as well. But of course the key priority is that it should be safe for the passenger and for their loved ones. Um and then the the other question was in terms of the measures taken on board. We understand from colleague who was on board that um that there was adequate space on the ship. the ship was not full. So there was for there was place to keep uh social distancing uh at all times including during during meals um on on the ship.

[00:01:49]>> All right. So we're moving on to a question from David Stagger from 24 Hungary. Was all the 29 passenger who departed the ship in April successfully located and isolated?

[00:02:06]Yes. So we know that the passengers from the European Union uh have been have been located and and are under quarantine. We also know that the WHO and the South African colleagues have been contact have been organizing the contact tracing for the pass for the other for the passengers from the rest of the world. We we do not have all the details uh for the passengers outside the the European Union but we understand from who colleagues that these are being managed in the appropriate way.

[00:02:38]>> All right. I will take the two next questions together as they are related.

[00:02:43]Uh it is question that came into the chat from Stephanie Benz from Lexress but as well from Pedro Katano from the Portuguese news agency Lucia. So has the genome of the virus been completely sequenced?

[00:03:01]If not when will it be? And the second question is just to be clear does the ECDC completely reject the possibility that this is a new strain of antivirus?

[00:03:13]Yeah, >> I can take I can take that. So the the genome of this virus has been completely sequenced. Um and and on the second point here, I'd like to reiterate. So we make our assessments based on the available data that we have at the moment. Like I said at the beginning, there is no data to suggest that this virus is behaving differently in terms of transmissibility or severity from any of the known virus circulating in certain regions of the world. Um and based on the chat data, I would I would say that currently we have no reason to suspect that this is a new virus.

[00:03:51]>> All right, I take the next question in um in person. So that is uh Johannes Peter from RF. Please you can ask your question.

[00:04:05]>> Yes. Johannes, Austrian, can you hear me? See me?

[00:04:10]>> Yes. Yes, we can.

[00:04:12]>> Johannes Petra, Austrian National Television. Um, I have a question for the director. As an Austrian political journalist, this is giving me strong nostalgia. Um, Miss Randy Vagna, just overall uh I would be interested in your assessment for our audience because they uh obviously know other viruses as well and to many the Hunter virus is still sort of new. So I was wondering if you if you could compare it to other viruses that we have seen s such as Ebola or other viruses. How how dangerous is this virus and how how contained do you see it to be? Thank you.

[00:04:56]>> Well uh regarding the Hunter virus, it's a virus which is known for a long long long time. It's not a new virus as such and even I don't know if you heard the beginning. I I I just start from the from the beginning. I hunter virus is for a long time a known virus. Um even the subspecies of andes uh is known for many many decades I think even five decades we know about in the medical literature about the and virus. uh compared to other virus you know it's uh it's not that easy to compare virus and virus but what we know so far from hunter that the transmissibility is uh is uh needs a prolonged period of exposure or very intense contact. This is uh if you compare it for example to measles this is uh uh like a much less risk of transmissibility uh than compared to a measles virus which is much much faster and easier spreading uh than this kind of virus uh this so it's it's uh not easy to compare as such.

[00:06:11]All right thank you. We are going to give the floor to Tomaso Galabotei from Adian Kronos.

[00:06:22]Yes, Tomaso Kronos, Brussels. Just one question because H is there is there any chance I I understand that the antivirus is has been known for a long time and I guess that it's the same virus if I'm not mistaken which killed the gakman.

[00:06:41]uh but is there any chance that this virus this and virus uh can mutate in order to be more easily transmissible for human to human? Many thanks.

[00:07:00]Um, with regards to the Andes virus that's circulating right now, I believe it's different than the virus that killed Gene Hackman because the Andes virus is the only one in the family of hunter viruses that is transmissible from person to person, which is why this is a little bit different than that. Um, viruses can mutate over time, but again, there's no reason right now to suggest that this one has mutated and become more transmissible. what we're seeing I think both on the epidemiological and the microbiological side suggests the virus is acting the way that they normally do. So I I wouldn't entertain that very much. Thank you.

[00:07:39]>> The next question comes from Christina Singer from Ora and it is in the chat.

[00:07:46]It is said today that there was an Austrian on a plane together with a high-risk person who therefore is now considered a lowrisk person. How could that happen if there were special planes for all passengers?

[00:08:05]>> Um I'm not aware of this specific case.

[00:08:08]What what we know about is that a number of passengers have been contact traced um because they were on a flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg where one of the cases um boarded um and then she passed away in Johannesburg a few hours after after boarding another flight which which was due to go to Amsterdam. Um and we know that for both flights passengers are being traced and it's important that the passengers who are contacted um on these flights are quarantined because they're assessed as as being at high risk if they were if they were in the two rows in front or the two rows behind or same row as as the passenger who passed away. Um for other for other passengers we recommend that they monitor for symptoms but they would be considered as as low risk. Um and in the sense they can go on with their normal life. Um but if they develop any symptoms of course they need to be they need to contact their healthcare providers and be assessed and mentioned that they have been on a flight. So far we have not seen any cases uh any any cases linked to um to to flights where where this uh where where this case was on board. But incubation period is quite long as you know. So there's still some time until the until the six weeks uh pass. Um and we will continue to observe this as as the situation evolves. Thank you.

[00:09:42]>> Um I'm going to give the floor to Kai Cooper Schmidt from Science Magazine that has a follow-up question. Please Kai.

[00:09:51]>> Yes. Thank you so much. I I just wanted to check whether there's anything you can say at all about what the the um epidemiological investigation on the boat so on the ship so far has shown just in terms of the situation on board and the likely spread. It seems so important to to understand the risk. So what's kind of the first impression maybe um in terms of what might have been happening on board just in terms of ventilation all of these things that that you'd be looking at?

[00:10:21]>> Yes. So as I as I mentioned we um our colleague on the ship together with the Dutch public health the Dutch medical colleagues have started started investigating the the the risks on the ship. Um what we our hypothesis currently is that the first case was likely infected while traveling in Argentina um in the in the weeks before before boarding the ship. Um most likely um this this passenger transmitted uh the virus to other some to the other passengers who acquired it on on board and it seems that the incubation periods fit with this with this process. As we have mentioned there is a need for close contact and and usually prolonged contact to transmit the virus. So this is still under investigation the the specific contacts between between passengers. Um but the information we have is that so far uh the pattern seems to follow to to follow this uh this this approach that there was close contact between a number of the passengers and as you know one of the cases was also the doctor on board who had of course very close contact with with the passengers who were who were ill at an early stage of the of the of the illness.

[00:11:39]>> All right, thank you very much. We are now going to take the last question from Sarah Haymon uh from the Swedish radio uh from the chat. Do you have information on uh how many people were exposed when the Dutch lady flew to South Africa and collapsed at the airport and if all those have been traced and contacted?

[00:12:06]Um I mentioned earlier no we do not know exactly how many passengers were exposed. We we know about the the um the passengers from from EU member states.

[00:12:17]Um we're collecting additional data from countries as we speak on the number of contacts which are followed in EU member states. We know that who is take is doing the same for countries outside the European Union. um and that the South African colleagues have been contact tracing relating to this specific event in in Johannesburg when when the passenger was removed from the flight and then then collapsed in the in the airport. Um so all the measures are being taken but we do not have exact numbers on the number of of passengers which are being followed currently.

[00:12:52]And with that we would like to thank you very much for coming today to this uh press conference organized by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. Um we are uh now going to close um this press conference. We thank you very much.

[00:13:08]Goodbye.

[00:13:13]Okay.