MV Hondius Hantavirus Crisis: 40% Fatality Rate, No Vaccine — What India Needs To Know Right Now

Added: 2026-05-17

[00:00:00]A deadly and rare virus with no vaccine and no cure has put the world on alert.

[00:00:05]Nine infected, two deaths confirmed from the virus, and a third suspected. Over 20 nationalities, one ship. The MP Hon Dia, the ship at the center of the hantavirus, the ship that began its journey from Argentina [music] on 1st April with over 85 passengers and around 60 crew members on board, has finally docked in the Canary Islands. Passengers were evacuated under protocol set by the WHO, in full protective gear, ferried off the ship on smaller boats. 94 people have disembarked on day one. Here's what India needs to know. Two Indian crew members were on board. They've now been flown to the Netherlands and are in quarantine. However, the world is watching closely the status of cases that have spread beyond the ship. A French passenger, for example, developed symptoms mid-flight. One American tested positive and was headed to a bio-containment unit in Nebraska. The virus, the Andes strain of hantavirus.

[00:01:02]40% fatality rate, no vaccine, no cure, and it's the only strain that spreads human to human. WHO says this is not the next COVID, but with nine cases, multiple countries involved, and contact tracing underway globally, the world is not taking any chances.