Major update on doctor infected by hantavirus aboard MV Hondias
The British national suspected of being infected with hantavirus aboard MV Hondais has gone from critical to stable condition, according to health leaders
The British citizen identified as the MV Hondais' on board doctor is no longer in critical condition after suspected hantavirus contraction(Image: AP)
A British doctor who was aboard the luxury cruise ship that was impacted by a deadly hantavirus outbreak is no longer in critical condition, according to updates from health leaders.
Spanish health minister Monica Garcia provided an update about the British national, 56, identified as the ship's doctor, who was flown to the Netherlands to receive medical treatment alongside two others who were suspected to be infected with the deadly rodent-borne virus. Garcia confirmed that the doctor's condition shifted from "critical" to "stable."
The cruise ship's operator, Oceanwide, said in a statement that two of the three patients being sent to the Netherlands are "symptomatic" and in "serious condition."
Article continues belowREAD MORE: How the deadly hantavirus spreads as cruise ship outbreak kills threeREAD MORE: Three dead on cruise ship after outbreak of rat virus that killed Gene Hackman's wife
The British doctor is currently asymptomatic and was "closely associated" with the German citizen who died onboard the ship on May 2, according to Oceanwide.
Furthermore, the ship will dock in the Canary Islands despite strong pushback from its leader, Fernando Clavijo, who had previously blocked suggestions for it to dock in Tenerife. Clavijo had raised concerns that there was not “sufficient information” to guarantee public safety.
The British doctor is currently asymptomatic and was "closely associated" with the German citizen who died onboard the ship on May 2(Image: ELTON MONTEIRO/EPA/Shutterstock)
Garcia said that health officials had been in contact with the president and other leaders of the Canary Islands.
Garcia said during the press conference that all passengers remaining on the ship are currently exhibiting no symptoms of the virus and will be evacuated once they dock in Tenerife.
Garcia emphasized that the passengers posed "no risk" to Canary Island citizens and that the protocol would "avoid contact" with them.
Spanish citizens will quarantine on a Madrid military base, and people from other countries will be repatriated if they have no symptoms. There are 14 Spanish citizens aboard the ship.
The World Health Organization stated that eight suspected cases of hantavirus have been linked to the ship. Global health leaders believe the suspected outbreak may be spread between passengers- a very rare occurrence as human-to-human transmission is not common.
South Africa’s health ministry also confirmed on Wednesday that the two passengers tested within the country have the Andes strain of the virus, which, though rare, has been known to be transmissible between humans.
Swiss officials confirmed one case is being treated in Zurich.
The World Health Organization's director general issued a statement to X that at this stage, the overall public health risk remains low.
So far, a Dutch passenger lost their life aboard the vessel on April 11, followed by the death of the initial patient's wife on April 27, with authorities confirming a variant of hantavirus. Subsequently, a German passenger passed away on May 2, though the cause remains unconfirmed
My Husband Slapped Me Twice in His Jewelry Store—Then I Discovered He'd Forged My Signature to Steal My Mother's Company
My husband slapped me twice in his luxury jewelry store while his mistress smiled. I left my wedding ring on the counter and warned him about his shares. But he had no idea I'd discovered a forged document giving him control of my inheritance. With my twenty-ninth birthday approaching, he was preparing to sell my mother's beloved workshop. Then an old photograph arrived from Vermont. The man in it was my father—the man I'd buried seventeen years earlier. And my husband already knew he was alive.
PART 1.
Nathan's hand connected with my face before I could finish saying his name.
The first slap sent my head turning toward a glass display filled with emerald necklaces.
The second knocked me backward against the counter, and I lost my balance, landing hard on the polished marble floor of his Madison Avenue jewelry store.
For a moment, all I could hear was the soft music playing through the ceiling speakers.
Nathan stood over me, breathing heavily.
Celeste Rowan watched from beside a brightly illuminated jewelry case, wearing a champagne-colored silk dress and a smile that made my stomach turn.
She didn't move to help me.
"Why are you here?" Nathan demanded.
"Are you following me now? You can't just show up and cause a scene."
I touched my cheek.
Blood filled my mouth where my teeth had cut the inside of it.
Near the entrance, an employee stopped arranging a tray of jewelry.
Another worker looked down at the floor.
Nobody said anything.
Four years earlier, Nathan had slipped a diamond ring onto my finger and promised that we would build something beautiful together.
Now he had struck me in front of the woman he'd been sleeping with for six months.
I pushed myself upright.
"I came to give you something back."
My fingers trembled as I removed my wedding ring.
I placed it carefully on the glass counter.
Celeste's smile widened.
"I guess she finally understands," she murmured.
I ignored her.
"My lawyer will be claiming half your shares by tomorrow," I told Nathan.
His expression changed.
The anger disappeared so quickly that it almost frightened me.
"Emma, wait."
I turned toward the entrance.
"Emma, you don't understand what you're doing."
"That's funny," I said quietly.
"Because for the first time in four years, I think I do."
He followed me halfway across the showroom.
"Don't make this ugly."
I looked back at the woman standing beside him.
"You already did."
Outside, I climbed into a cab and photographed my swelling cheek before calling Maya Ortiz.
Maya had been my attorney for only eight days.
In those eight days, she'd uncovered enough irregularities in my mother's company records to make me question almost everything I believed about my marriage.
"Did you go to the store?" she asked.
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"Nathan hit me. Twice."
She went silent.
Then her voice sharpened.
"Are you safe?"
"I'm in a cab."
"Go directly to urgent care. I'll meet you there. And Emma?"
"Yes?"
"Don't speak to him again."
I stared through the window at the traffic moving along Madison Avenue.
"I need you to preserve the security footage," I said.
"We will."
"And I need that shareholder meeting stopped."
Maya exhaled.
"We're working on it."
The meeting was scheduled for Friday.
My twenty-ninth birthday.
It was also the day a document bearing my forged signature supposedly transferred the voting rights attached to my forty-two percent ownership interest in Vale Atelier to Nathan.
My mother, Louise Vale, had spent thirty years building the workshop.
Nathan intended to sell it.
And unless we could prove the document was fraudulent, he might have enough voting power to make that happen.
The signature looked convincing.
The notary stamp appeared legitimate.
But I had been in Portland, Oregon, with my aunt on the day I supposedly signed it.
I had never authorized Nathan to vote my shares.
That evening, after a doctor examined my injuries and I gave a statement to the police, my phone vibrated.
The message came from Ruth Miller, my mother's retired bookkeeper.
There was a photograph attached.
A gray-haired man stood outside a small repair shop in Vermont.
He held a jeweler's loupe against one eye.
His faded green field jacket looked painfully familiar.
So did the pale scar running across his left thumb.
I enlarged the photograph.
My breath stopped.
I had seen that face in framed photographs, birthday albums, and dreams for seventeen years.
Martin Vale.
My father.
The man whose empty coffin I had watched disappear into the ground when I was twelve.
Below the photograph, Ruth had written:
Emma, I think you deserve the truth.
Then another message arrived.
Please don't tell Nathan I've contacted you. I believe he's already found your father.
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