Suspected Hantavirus Case Emerges on Tristan da Cunha After MV Hondius Outbreak

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Viewers, we just told you about Hantavirus. Now, a new suspected Hantavirus case has emerged on the remote island of Tristan da Cunha linked to the virus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius.

[00:00:09]Three people have died in the outbreak, while health officials say the risk to the wider public remains low as tracing and testing continues on a war footing.

[00:00:18]Here's a complete story.

[00:00:21]A new suspected case of Hantavirus has been identified in a British man. He was a passenger on the virus-hit luxury cruise ship MV Hondius, health authorities said on Friday, and is now on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha. An islander has been hospitalized and his wife was self-isolating, Britain's Minister for the overseas territories said in a statement. Four islanders from the British overseas territory took a lift on the Dutch-flagged vessel to St. Helena and all had been advised to self-isolate there as a precaution, it added. The world's remotest inhabited island is halfway between South Africa and South America and home to only around 200 people. While only a suspected case, it will fuel concerns about the Andes strain of Hantavirus found on the ship that in rare cases can spread from human to human. Three people, a Dutch couple and a German national, died following the outbreak on the ship. Four others are confirmed to be infected and have been treated in hospitals in the Netherlands, South Africa, and Switzerland.

[00:01:22]A woman in the Spanish province of Alicante has possible symptoms and is being tested, Spanish health officials said on Friday. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified the Hantavirus outbreak as the lowest level of emergency activation. Other experts have also stressed the low probability of a widespread contagion. Three close contacts of a Dutch woman who died have now tested negative for the virus, according to authorities. Christian Lindmeier from the World Health Organization says that is a reassuring result.

[00:01:53]That should convince nearly everybody now that this is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who's really infected and it's the risk to the general population remains absolutely low.

[00:02:07]No people with symptoms of a possible infection remain on board the ship which was expected to dock in Tenerife in the Canary Islands early on Sunday.

[00:02:16]Because we just told you about Hantavirus, now a new suspected Hantavirus case has emerged on the remote island of Tristan da Cunha linked to the virus hit cruise ship MV Hondius.

[00:02:25]Three people have died in the outbreak while health officials say the risk to the wider public remains low as tracing and testing continues on a war footing.

[00:02:34]Here's a complete story.

[00:02:38]A new suspected case of Hantavirus has been identified in a British man. He was a passenger on the virus hit luxury cruise ship MV Hondius, health authorities said on Friday and is now on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha. An islander has been hospitalized and his wife was self-isolating, Britain's Minister for the overseas territories said in a statement. Four islanders from the British overseas territory took a lift on the Dutch flagged vessel to Saint Helena and all had been advised to self-isolate there as a precaution, it added. The world's remotest inhabited island is halfway between South Africa and South America and home to only around 200 people. While only a suspected case, it will fuel concerns about the Andes strain of Hantavirus found on the ship that in rare cases can spread from human to human. Three people, a Dutch couple and a German national, died following the outbreak on the ship. Four others are confirmed to be infected and have been treated in hospitals in the Netherlands, South Africa and Switzerland.

[00:03:38]A woman in the Spanish province of Alicante has possible symptoms and is being tested, Spanish health officials said on Friday. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified the Hantavirus outbreak as the lowest level of emergency activation. Other experts have also stressed the low probability of a widespread contagion. Three close contacts of a Dutch woman who died have now tested negative for the virus, according to authorities. Christian Lindmeier from the World Health Organization says that is a reassuring result.

[00:04:09]That should convince nearly everybody now that this is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who's really infected, uh and it's the risk to the general population remains absolutely low.

[00:04:23]No people with symptoms of a possible infection remain on board the ship, which was expected to dock in Tenerife in the Canary Islands early on Sunday.