‘This is not Covid’: WHO assures Hantavirus outbreak ‘limited’ but more cases ‘possible’

The World Health Organisation on Thursday gave assurances around the hantavirus outbreak from the cruise ship saying that the spread is expected to be limited but cautioned that cases could rise.Warning that more cases were “possible”, it added that the outbreak on the cruise ship in the Atlantic is expected to be “limited”. “We believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity shown across all countries,” the World Health Organization’s emergency alert and response director Abdi Rahman Mahamud told reporters, as quoted by AFP.Further dismissing concerns around this outbreak to become ‘Covid-like’, WHO epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director Maria Van Kerkhove assured, “This is not the start of an epidemic. This is not the start of a pandemic,” adding, “This is not Covid.”The health organisation also announced that it sent 2,500 hantavirus diagnostic kits to labs in five countries.Meanwhile in an additional development, a second patient from the cruise ship outbreak has tested positive for hantavirus, a hospital in the Netherlands confirmed. The Leiden University Medical Centre said the diagnosis was verified and communicated to the patient, who consented to the disclosure. Earlier, the Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands had also confirmed another cruise ship patient under its care had tested positive, adding to growing case numbers linked to the MV Hondius outbreak.

How did the outbreak happen

The outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship is believed to have begun when a passenger contracted the rare Andes strain of hantavirus during travel in Ushuaia, Argentina, possibly during a birdwatching excursion before boarding the vessel. Health investigators suspect the infection then spread onboard during the ship’s voyage across the Atlantic through close contact among passengers.Authorities say three passengers have died and several others have been infected or tested positive across multiple countries, with cases reported among travellers who later disembarked in Europe and beyond. The Andes strain is unusual because, unlike most hantaviruses that spread through rodents, it can in rare cases transmit between humans under prolonged close contact.