Health officials have called for calm following a widespread scare, saying the Hantavirus disease is nowhere near as serious as COVID-19.
One of 17 American citizens being repatriated from a hantavirus-hit cruise ship has tested mildly positive for the virus, the US health department said on Sunday.
“One passenger currently has mild symptoms and another passenger tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes virus,” the Department of Health and Human Services said.
Both passengers are currently travelling in the plane’s biocontainment units “out of an abundance of caution,” it said.
The development has sent panic waves across the United States, with Jay Bhattacharya, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), urging the US public to remain calm about the hantavirus, saying: “This is not Covid.”
