Lithuanian Health Minister Marija Jakubauskienė said Tuesday there are no indications of hantavirus cases in the country and residents can feel safe despite international concern over an outbreak linked to a cruise ship in the Atlantic.
“There are no signals, no signs and no patients admitted with similar symptoms that would raise concerns that the virus has reached Lithuania,” Jakubauskienė told BNS.
She said Lithuania continues to carry out epidemiological monitoring of infectious diseases under established public health procedures.
“All public health services are vigilantly monitoring the situation. So far, there are absolutely no signals in Lithuania that this is a threatening situation,” the minister said.
“We view the spread of the virus as a global phenomenon, and the services are prepared to respond accordingly. But in this case, residents in Lithuania can feel completely safe and calm,” she added.
International concern over hantavirus intensified after an outbreak aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius, which had been sailing from Ushuaia, Argentina, to Cape Verde across the Atlantic Ocean.
The first reports emerged in early May. Three passengers – a Dutch couple and a German woman – died, while several others became ill with the rare disease, which is typically spread through rodents.
At least seven evacuated passengers later tested positive for the virus.
Health authorities have stressed that the broader risk to public health remains low and rejected comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic.
More than 120 passengers and crew members were evacuated from Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday and Monday, with countries applying different health measures for returning travellers.
The MV Hondius departed for the Netherlands on Tuesday after the last passengers disembarked.
