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Hong Kong healthcare and hospitals
Opinion
SCMP Editorial
Editorial
SCMP Editorial

Hong Kong is treating hantavirus outbreak with reasonable caution

The city and other communities should resist the urge to overreact and instead focus on hygiene and other proven best practices

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A passenger from the cruise ship MV Hondius is transferred by boat after disembarking at the port of Granadilla de Abona, in Tenerife, Spain on May 10. Photo: Reuters
SCMP Editorial
Editorials represent the views of the South China Morning Post on the issues of the day.
The hantavirus cluster that took a deadly toll on a cruise ship far away in the Atlantic has understandably been of great concern to many in Hong Kong. Fears have grown globally since the phrase “human-to-human transmission” was used to describe what happened on board the MV Hondius after it set sail from Argentina on April 1. Given densely populated Hong Kong’s experience with Covid, Sars and other illnesses, it is good that the city authorities have been on the alert since at least three people died in the outbreak and several others were confirmed to have contracted the virus.

The city’s Centre for Health Protection said it was taking a “proactive and precautionary” approach after tests showed most of the cases involved the Andes genotype. It is the only form of hantavirus confirmed to spread among people. The virus is primarily spread through contact with infected rodents’ faeces, saliva or urine.

Centre controller Dr Edwin Tsui Lok-kin said the Airport Authority and travel industry players had been informed about the epidemiological development of hantaviruses, preventive measures and guidelines as well as instructed in rodent control and hygiene monitoring at all boundary control points.

It is reassuring that hantavirus is a statutory notifiable disease in Hong Kong, meaning doctors must report all suspected or confirmed cases for immediate investigations and control measures. The illness is also rarely seen in the city. The centre says it has recorded an average of zero to two cases of hantavirus infections annually over the past five years and none so far this year.

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