26 more Canadians being contacted for 'low-risk' hantavirus exposure

Listen to this article

Estimated 5 minutes

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.

More Canadians are being contacted after having been on the same flights 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 planes 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. 

These low-risk contacts relate to flights taken from St. Helena to Johannesburg and a second flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, according to a spokesperson for the Public Health Agency of Canada.

This brings the total number of Canadians connected to the hantavirus outbreak to 36. That includes nine high-risk contacts, six of whom are passengers from the ship.

WATCH | Here's how Canada is handling low-risk hantavirus exposures: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 has now been 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. 

The outbreak of the Andes hantavirus, which ⁠is primarily spread by rodents but can be transmitted between people in ⁠rare cases, ⁠was reported in early May ​aboard the cruise ship.

It has since infected 11 people, including three people who have died: ​a Dutch couple and ⁠a German national.

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.

However, local public health units are doing their own risk assessments and have the discretion, based on additional information, to tell people 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.

The cruise ship MV Hondius has experienced a hantavirus outbreak. All passengers have disembarked and the ship is currently on its way back to the Netherlands. (CBC)

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 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. 

41 Americans being monitored: CDC

In the United States, there are no confirmed cases of Andes hantavirus related to the outbreak aboard the cruise ship, health officials said on Thursday.

But the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 41 people, including 18 quarantined in Nebraska and Atlanta, are being monitored for possible ​infection.

LISTEN | Infectious disease physician on the risk hantavirus poses:

The Current19:30How worried should you be about hantavirus?

Dr Kamran Khan was warning clients in December 2025 that the epidemiology of hantavirus was changing. It was showing up in places it had never been seen before, and fatality rates were higher too. Khan's company, Blue Dot, tracks and analyzes infectious disease data from around the world. Plus, Steven Taylor, professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia about how COVID and other public health emergencies are influencing how people are reacting to hantavirus.

Those monitored include passengers who ⁠had returned to the United ‌States before the outbreak was identified and others who may have been exposed on flights where a symptomatic case was present.

Most of the people being monitored should stay at home and avoid contact with others during ⁠the six-week monitoring period, said Dr. David Fitter, the incident manager for the CDC's hantavirus response.

He did not give an udate on the 18 people in quarantine. The University ‌of Nebraska Medical Center said on Tuesday that one passenger initially placed in a biocontainment unit had been medically cleared to move to a quarantine unit with the others.

"What I can say is that there ​are no cases in the United States," Fitter said on a media call when asked how many ⁠people had been tested in the country.