Global Hantavirus Outbreak Worsens As France And US Confirm New Cases | NewsX World

Added: 2026-05-11

[00:00:00]A UN security report prepared by the United Nations, gunmen have killed at least 30 people in Nigeria's northwestern Zamfara state. The report said the victims were traveling along a highway late on Sunday when they were ambushed by an armed group referred to locally as bandits who killed 30 individuals including civilians, hunters and a community protection guard.

[00:00:27]More of that as we get it. We will keep you updated on News X World. Now, we move over to a story developing. The hanta virus global outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship is worsening with France and the United States reporting new infections amid large-scale evacuation efforts. A French woman who traveled on the cruise ship has tested positive for hanta virus and her condition is reportedly deteriorating.

[00:00:59]French health minister Stephanie Vriess said authorities are moving quickly to break transmission chains through stronger isolation measures. Meanwhile, the United States has confirmed that the American passenger on a repar- reparation flight tested mildly positive for the virus while another showed mild symptoms. Both were transported in bio-containment units as a precaution. These new cases bring the total number of confirmed infections to 10. The Dutch flagged MV Hondius remained anchored near Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands after the outbreak emerged on board. Furthermore, listen in to this update provided by the Spanish health minister.

[00:01:44]Previsto que esta tarde llegaran dos aviones, el de Australia y el de Países Bajos. Finalmente va a ser el el vuelo de Países Bajos el que se va a llevar también a los ciudadanos y ciudadanas que iban en el vuelo australiano y esperamos que a lo largo de la tarde eh >> The outbreak involves the Andes strain of hunt virus which can cause severe respiratory illness. The virus is usually spread through rodents, but in a rare cases can also spread between humans. Symptoms include fever, chills, headaches, gastroenteritis, and problems, and respiratory distress. The fatality rates of this strain can reach up to 50% especially among elderly patients.

[00:02:46]For this, we are being joined by Professor Daniel Birch who is at the center of infectious disease emergency response, National University of Singapore, joining us live from Singapore. Thank you so much, doctor, for joining us here today on News X World. Pleasure to have you on. Thank you. Um now with this outbreak that's occurring, now spreading across multiple countries, confirmed cases now in France and the United States.

[00:03:15]Is the world witnessing early stages of another cross-border public health emergency driven by international travel and cruise tourism? Um al- also with that question, do you think the COVID-19 pandemic has made people stress more in these situations?

[00:03:37]Yeah, thanks for having me. Um I'll answer the second question first. I think there's no doubt that the experience coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the public's perception of of epidemics and infectious diseases. And so I think um in many ways people are naturally because this is what someone would tend to do if you're not an expert on these things naturally you take a template of what you know from COVID and try to put that on to another infectious disease and another outbreak. However, that is not appropriate here. We're looking at a much much different scenario. This is nothing like COVID-19.

[00:04:17]It's not a virus that's easily spread.

[00:04:19]I'm not sure that we even can say honestly, you know, I wouldn't say that the outbreak is worsening because we still have people the people who are being diagnosed now and testing positive are still the people who are on the ship. We know that people had close contacts and it's logical that we would see a few more cases as we monitor those people. The incubation period for this disease that is the time from when you're infected to when you show symptoms can be up to 6 weeks and so we do have to monitor those people for quite a long time and we may see a few more cases, but nevertheless this is nothing really like COVID and certainly not a reason for the general population to panic. And authorities in France and the US have activated strict isolation and bio-containment protocols.

[00:05:08]Does this indicate genuine concerns among governments that the outbreak could escalate beyond the isolated imported cases or do you think this is an extra measure to make sure that this virus keeps very limited so another pandemic doesn't happen. As you said it's not as easily spread like COVID.

[00:05:31]So I don't think there's any possibility you know, the possibility of a true pandemic from this virus is close to zero honestly and so the extra precautions that are taking place are you know, often you we hear the term in abundance of caution often really more caution than even is scientifically oriented, but of course the public expects an abundance of caution. They expect people to be as safe as possible and, um, to make risk as close to zero as it as it can be. And so, those precautions using high, um, quality bio-containment facilities are an extra precaution. It's not what, um, but most of the people who are exposed to need to be in for any long period of time and so, for a short short period of time they'll come into, um, high containment facilities that are controlled. They'll be examined, they'll be assessed whether they're, um, presently sick with hantavirus. And if they're they're not, then they will probably be put into a form of monitored isolation, but not necessarily in a high containment facility. So, that would be something much more like, um, staying isolated at home and having someone who would call and check on you every day and, uh, periodically come to examine you with the proper precautions if needed until you get past the possible incubation period.

[00:06:49]Professor, the