{"id":22251,"date":"2026-06-08T00:02:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T00:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/nz-cruise-passenger-tests-negative-for-hantavirus-taipei-times\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T00:02:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T00:02:02","slug":"nz-cruise-passenger-tests-negative-for-hantavirus-taipei-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/nz-cruise-passenger-tests-negative-for-hantavirus-taipei-times\/","title":{"rendered":"NZ cruise passenger tests negative for hantavirus &#8211; Taipei Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A passenger from New Zealand who entered Taiwan last month after traveling aboard the Dutch cruise ship <i>MV Hondius<\/i> has completed self-health management and tested negative in four rounds of hantavirus testing, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.<br \/>On May 2, the WHO received a report that a cluster of passengers on the <i>MV Hondius<\/i>, which carried 147 passengers and crew,  were showing signs of severe respiratory illness. <br \/>Tests later confirmed an outbreak of the Andes strain of hantavirus.<br \/>Photo: Lin Huei-chin, Taipei Times<br \/>The New Zealand passenger who came to Taiwan was identified through notifications issued by the WHO and International Health Regulations (IHR) reporting mechanism, the CDC said.<br \/>After the passenger arrived on May 7, the CDC arranged for them to undergo enhanced self-health management and health monitoring in a hospital room during the monitoring period, it said.<br \/>The passenger did not experience a fever, cough, breathing difficulties or any other symptoms suggestive of hantavirus infection during the monitoring period, the CDC said, adding that they were tested on May 14, May 20, May 27 and on Wednesday.<br \/>The tests included Andes hantavirus polymerase chain reaction tests, as well as serum IgM and IgG antibody tests, and they all came back negative, with the passenger  remaining in stable health condition, it said.<br \/>\u201cGiven the negative test results and the completion of the 42-day enhanced self-health management and monitoring period, the passenger poses no risk of community transmission [of hantavirus] in Taiwan,\u201d the CDC said.<br \/>The mandatory enhanced self-health management was lifted yesterday, the centers said, adding that the WHO and New Zealand were notified through Taiwan\u2019s IHR Focal Point.<br \/>As of Tuesday last week, 13 cases (11 confirmed and 2 potential cases), including three deaths, have been linked to the hantavirus cluster on the <i>MV Hondius<\/i>, indicating a case fatality rate of 23 percent, the CDC said.<br \/>Cross-border contact tracing efforts are ongoing, and as of May 22, more than 600 contacts had been traced, with 53 percent classified as high-risk contacts, it said.<br \/>Although the WHO assessed the global risk of the outbreak as low, the CDC said it would continue to monitor the situation through international cooperation mechanisms, including the WHO and IHR.<br \/>The centers would also adjust prevention and control measures in response to the evolving situation, it added.<br \/>                                         <font class=\"red\">UPGRADE: <\/font>                                         The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360\u00b0 air defense                                        Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (\u6d77\u528d\u4e8c, Sea Sword II) \u2014 also known as TC-2N \u2014 to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy\u2019s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday.  Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (\u5929\u528d\u4e8c, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology\u2019s Jiupeng facility (\u4e5d\u9d6c) in Pingtung County\u2019s Manjhou Township (\u6eff\u5dde).  The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese                                    <br \/>                                         <font class=\"red\">REASONS FOR TRAVEL: <\/font>                                         An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling                                        People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver\u2019s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (\u9053\u8def\u4ea4\u901a\u7ba1\u7406\u8655\u7f70\u689d\u4f8b).  The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said.  People aged 18 or                                    <br \/>                                         <font class=\"red hidden\"><\/font>                                                                                 Johanne Liou (\u5289\u55ac\u5b89), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, returned to Taiwan last night after being deported from the US.   She is to stand trial in Taiwan for charges involving embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes.   The Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said it took her into custody at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and would first question her before transferring her to the New Taipei District Prosecutors\u2019 Office.   She was arrested upon disembarking a flight from San Francisco that landed shortly before 7pm.   Liou absconded to the US in 2019 after jumping bail                                    <br \/>                                         <font class=\"red hidden\"><\/font>                                                                                 Shih Hsin University President Chen Ching-he (\u9673\u6e05\u6cb3) yesterday issued a public apology for comments made in his commencement speech last week, stating that he has asked the school to suspend his duties and halt his wages for two months as a show of contrition.  At the commencement ceremony on May 30, Chen said, \u201cIf you don\u2019t manage your time well, or your own emotions, or your health, then I am telling every one of you \u2014 put a quick end to \u2018you,\u2019 because the world has no need for \u2018you.\u2019\u201d  The comments have sparked significant controversy online, and Chen through an open                                    <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMiekFVX3lxTE1aVlB1OXl2bjJwOVlhNVgyeWFQZzYzdXYwRkxGWW5vbHJtV3RwelNBbWVkNkNldjdWdXBsUFpIWFM4d25JWU1ZLS13N0R0TUpDZ2V6clNjbWk5QVdJQ3ZXQjJ1YVpFRVRidWt5aVV0RjdZLW5JUThDRk13?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A passenger from New Zealand who entered Taiwan last month after traveling aboard the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius has completed self-health management and tested negative in four rounds of hantavirus testing, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.On May 2, the WHO received a report that a cluster of passengers on the MV [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}