Although a unified European framework for quarantine guidelines remains absent, the EU has implemented measures to enhance its readiness compared to six years ago. Will these steps suffice?
Although experts currently advise against alarm over hantavirus, fatalities caused by the aggressive Andes strain aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship have sparked worry.
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Despite the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) rating the risk as «very low,» last week, the Council of the European Union activated its crisis response system in an information-sharing capacity to closely track the situation.
However, the EU has additional instruments ready should the outbreak intensify significantly.
What about hantavirus quarantine and distancing protocols?
An important note concerns quarantine and prevention measures: a standardized protocol or European guidelines do not exist.
While such fragmentation could complicate responses to hantavirus, the international reaction has so far demonstrated improved coordination.
Countries like Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and others facing hantavirus cases are employing similar strategies, relying on recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO).
These include a six-week quarantine period for high-risk contacts, PCR testing, vigilant monitoring, restricted mobility, and maintaining safe distances of 1.5 to 2 metres.
Typically, quarantine is conducted at home, although countries like the UK and France mandate that patients spend at least part of this period hospitalized.
In the UK, individuals remain under hospital quarantine for a minimum of 72 hours, whereas France requires patients to complete the entire quarantine in hospital care. Nevertheless, French officials note that isolation could be lifted after 14 days depending on symptomatology.
In contrast to the UK and France, US health authorities advise a 42-day «monitoring period» for high-risk contacts, including those without symptoms, which can generally be fulfilled at home.
«Decisions about residence during this period (…) should consider healthcare access, living conditions, underlying health issues, compliance capability with health directives, and ability to perform essential daily activities.»
Other countries outside Europe, including Australia and Canada, have adopted a shorter quarantine duration of three weeks.
What anti-pandemic procedures has the EU implemented?
Following the COVID-19 crisis, the EU developed protocols to enhance the speed, coordination, and effectiveness of responses to cross-border health threats. This aims to prevent chaos caused by inconsistent regulations, reporting practices, and disputes over vaccine authorization and distribution within the bloc.
Two regulations now play a crucial role if a new health threat arises in the EU.
The first, Regulation 2022/2371, mandates that countries notify each other promptly, within 24 hours, via the Early Warning and Response System.
An alert is triggered if a threat is atypical or unexpected for the place and time, causes considerable mortality, spreads rapidly, or impacts multiple countries beyond national response capacities.
The complementary protocol, Regulation 2022/2372, focuses on oversight and coordination, outlining processes for joint approval and stockpiling of vaccines and medications — a highly debated topic during the previous pandemic.
The European Commission can activate the first regulation based on advice from the ECDC or European Medicines Agency, while the Council of the European Union can initiate the second.
Additionally, EU member states may invoke the European Civil Protection Mechanism, which supports response teams and supplies.
Spain recently activated this mechanism for hantavirus, which also involves 10 non-EU countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Türkiye, and Ukraine.