A Dutch hospital has placed 12 staff members under a mandatory six-week quarantine following accidental exposure to hantavirus samples. The precautionary measure was announced after blood and urine specimens from an infected patient were handled without following required safety protocols.
The 12 employees will remain in quarantine for six weeks, the Radboudumc hospital in the city of Nijmegen stated, adding that the infection risk remains very low and patient care continues uninterrupted.
The World Health Organization (WHO) increased its tally of confirmed cases in the outbreak to nine, up by two from the previous day. The head of the U.N. agency said more cases could emerge due to the long incubation period, but emphasized that this is not a pandemic and is nothing like COVID-19.
The virus can be deadly, although it does not spread easily from person to person.
