Victor Nze

The World Health Organization has moved to calm fears over a deadly hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean, insisting the situation does not resemble the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and currently poses a low global public health risk.

Three people have died and several others have fallen ill aboard the Dutch-flagged expedition vessel MV Hondius, triggering an international public health response involving authorities in Europe, Africa and Latin America.

The outbreak was first reported to WHO by the United Kingdom under the International Health Regulations framework after passengers on the ship developed severe respiratory illness during a voyage from Argentina to Cabo Verde.

Speaking to journalists in Geneva on Thursday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said eight cases had so far been identified, including five laboratory-confirmed infections and three suspected cases linked to the rare Andes strain of hantavirus.

“Hantaviruses have been around for quite a while. We know this virus. It does not spread the same way that coronaviruses do,” said Maria Van Kerkhove, who stressed that the outbreak was fundamentally different from the coronavirus crisis that swept the globe in 2020.

“This is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic,” she added.

Hantaviruses are zoonotic viruses carried primarily by rodents and are usually transmitted to humans through exposure to infected animals or their urine, saliva and droppings. In the Americas, they can cause hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome, a severe respiratory disease with a fatality rate that can reach 50 percent.

The Andes strain, found in parts of South America, is currently the only known hantavirus capable of limited human-to-human transmission. According to WHO, such transmission generally occurs only through prolonged close contact, particularly among household members, intimate partners or healthcare workers caring for infected patients.

“At this stage, the overall public health risk remains low,” Tedros said.

WHO said the first known patient developed symptoms on April 6 while aboard the vessel and later died during the voyage. His wife subsequently became ill and was evacuated to South Africa, where laboratory tests confirmed hantavirus infection before she also died.

Health officials said the couple had travelled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay before boarding the cruise ship. Their itinerary reportedly included birdwatching excursions in regions inhabited by rodent species known to carry the virus.

A third passenger died on May 2. Another infected passenger remains in intensive care in South Africa, although WHO said his condition is improving. Additional patients have been transferred to hospitals in the Netherlands for treatment and monitoring.

WHO said no passengers or crew members still aboard the ship are currently showing symptoms.

The outbreak has prompted coordinated international action under the International Health Regulations, the global system designed to manage cross-border health emergencies. WHO said it is working closely with authorities in Cabo Verde, Spain, the Netherlands, South Africa, the United Kingdom and Argentina, alongside the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Spain agreed to allow the vessel to dock in the Canary Islands after Cabo Verde declined the ship’s request to dock because of public health concerns.

Tedros praised Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez for what he described as an act of “solidarity” and “moral duty,” adding that “the risk to the people of the Canary Islands is actually low.”

WHO said a team including a WHO expert, Dutch medical personnel and a European disease specialist boarded the ship in Cabo Verde earlier this week to supervise medical assessments and infection-prevention measures during its onward journey to Tenerife.

Speaking to UN News, WHO Representative in Cabo Verde Ann Lindstrand said the agency had supported local authorities from the earliest stages of the response.

“During the trip to the Canary Islands we have been able to bring medical supplies, so if somebody gets sick on the boat, there will be medical doctors and supplies to be able to take care of them during the journey,” she said.

Authorities are also contacting passengers who had disembarked earlier in the voyage and advising them to seek immediate medical attention if symptoms develop. Passengers still on board have been instructed to remain in their cabins while disinfection procedures continue, with any new suspected cases to be isolated immediately.

WHO officials also moved to counter growing misinformation circulating online about the outbreak.

Abdirahman Mahamud said there was no evidence suggesting the incident could evolve into a global pandemic.

He explained that the infections occurred within a confined environment involving prolonged close contact among passengers, similar to a limited Andes hantavirus outbreak recorded in Argentina between 2018 and 2019. That outbreak was linked to a social gathering involving a symptomatic individual and resulted in only a small cluster of cases.

According to Mahamud, existing public health measures such as contact tracing, isolation and active monitoring are well understood and remain effective at breaking chains of transmission, making a large-scale epidemic unlikely.

However, WHO warned that additional infections could still emerge because the incubation period for Andes hantavirus may last up to six weeks.

“Viruses don’t care about politics, and they don’t care about borders,” Tedros said. “The best immunity we have is solidarity.”