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New Delhi: Twelve staff members at Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands have been placed under precautionary quarantine after protocol lapses occurred while treating a patient infected with Hantavirus infection who had been evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship.

The hospital said mistakes were made during the handling of the patient’s blood and urine samples. According to a statement released on May 11, the first lapse occurred on May 7 when blood was drawn from the patient shortly after admission.

The hospital issued a statement, saying 12 employees are going into preventive quarantine for six weeks as a precaution, even though the risk of infection is low.

Although standard procedures were followed, officials later found that stricter safety measures were required because of the nature of the virus. A second error was identified on May 9, when hospital staff failed to follow enhanced disposal protocols for the patient’s urine.

“Despite the fact that the chance of actual infection is very small, these measures have a significant impact on all those involved,” said Dr. Bertine Lahuis, chair of the hospital board.

Dr. Laguis said that we regret that this incident occurred at our university medical centre. The officials are carefully investigating the course of events to learn from this and to prevent it from happening in the future.

The patient, whose identity has not been disclosed, was airlifted from the MV Hondius and admitted to the hospital on May 7. Subsequent testing confirmed the presence of hantavirus infection.