Cyprus is ready for any eventuality and every possible scenario, as far as the hantavirus is concerned, the deputy director general of the Ministry of Health, Elizabeth Constantinou, stressed in her statements.
In fact, as Ms. Constantinou said, during the weekend, officials of the epidemiological surveillance unit of the Ministry of Health, monitored the process of preparing the necessary protocols by the European Center for Infection Control and proceeded to draw up the strategy of Cyprus, in case the need arises.
The protocol, based on the recommendations of the ECDC, said Ms. Constantinou, provide for a 42-day isolation for contacts. "There are of course gradations of cases into low and high risk," she said and added that "it is possible that some countries, on their own, will choose to implement stricter protocols afterwards".
The Andean hanta, explained the deputy director general of the Ministry of Health, is transmitted from animals to humans and rarely from human to human.
She expressed the hope that "the influx of incidents that have been detected on the cruise ship will not expand and that the issue will end here." She stressed that what is worrying and "that is why such strict measures have been taken, is the very high mortality rate recorded by this virus".
It is recalled that of the cruise ship passengers who have fallen ill, three have already lost their lives.
The level of danger for Cyprus, Ms. Constantinou said, "is very low", saying that there are no recorded incidents related to the hanta "although we cannot be sure of earlier decades and when the surveillance was not the same".
"But we have to say that there are other risks from people's contact with rodents, their faeces or urine. That is why our farmers and other citizens, now that summer is coming, must clean cottages, warehouses, etc. We have rickets, we have other unpleasant situations that come from rodents."
