Spencer Fehrenbacher was on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was quarantined near Japan after COVID was detected on board in February 2020.

He tells Sky News presenter Barbara Serra it was an experience he’d “love to never have to repeat”.

“Looking back, the staff were clearly put at risk,” he said. 

“There weren’t a lot of considerations given to their health. However, the captain on that ship communicated to all the passengers there was no reason to be concerned about the air we were breathing and that all of the air was being piped in from outside the ship and not recirculated. 

“However, what we have now learned since then is that was not the case and there was a layer of maybe a lack of transparency.”

Asked about the similarities between what he endured and what those on MV Hondius are experiencing, he said “there’s a lack of clarity about how worried we should be”.

“It seems the lack of a measured response or measured degree of concern that the World Health Organisation is telling us to have is causing a little bit of a lack of credibility, perhaps in how people are receiving those messages,” he added.

White House monitoring situation and ‘remains vigilant’

The White House has said it is working with the Centres for Disease Control and the state department to monitor and respond to hantavirus.

“While possible risks to the American public remain low, the CDC has convened leading experts on Andes virus to assist in this effort to ensure Americans are protected,” spokesperson Kush Desai said.

He added that the entire administration “remains vigilant”.