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The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, sought to reassure residents of Spain’s Canary Islands and passengers aboard the cruise ship “MV Hondius” that the risk posed by the hantavirus outbreak remains low.
“This disease is not COVID, and we as a global health organization have said that repeatedly,” Tedros told reporters ahead of the planned evacuation of passengers from the vessel on Sunday.
He said international concern surrounding the ship was “fully justified” given the lingering trauma caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but stressed that the current situation was “far better.”
Tedros said the risk of infection remained “low” both globally and for residents of the Canary Islands, where the ship is due to dock. He attributed this to two main factors: “First, the nature of the disease itself. Second, the fact that the Spanish government has taken all necessary measures to prevent any problems.”
Health experts believe the infections aboard the vessel were caused by the Andes virus, the only known strain of hantavirus capable of human-to-human transmission. Medical experts stress, however, that such transmission is rare and generally requires prolonged close contact with an infected person, such as among family members, healthcare workers or people in confined spaces. Severe cases can carry a fatality rate of up to 40%.
Infectious disease specialist Lucille Blumberg said the outbreak aboard the ship was unusual but limited in scope.
“This is not COVID, nor even influenza. It is an unusual event involving person-to-person transmission, possibly facilitated by the confined environment on the ship,” she said.
The vessel was expected to arrive at Spain’s Tenerife island early on Sunday, where around 150 passengers will be evacuated. Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia Gomez and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said there would be “no contact” with local residents and that the evacuation would be carried out swiftly using smaller boats and buses to transfer passengers to the airport for flights back to their home countries.
The virus has an incubation period ranging from one to eight weeks, complicating efforts to trace contacts. Three people aboard the ship — a German woman and a Dutch couple — have died so far, while one British passenger was airlifted to South Africa in critical condition.
Although some hantavirus strains can cause severe illness in humans, human infections remain relatively rare worldwide, with several thousand cases reported annually, mostly in Asia, Europe and the Americas. There is currently no approved antiviral treatment or vaccine for hantavirus, and medical care focuses primarily on supportive treatment.