LIVE | Hantavirus | Next Coronavirus? | Hantavirus Outbreak On Cruise Ship Not ‘Another COVID: WHO

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Hello and welcome to today's special press conference here at WHO on the Hunter virus cluster linked to cruise ship travel. We're very glad that we were able to call this on a fairly short notice and thank you for all of you joining us on this very short notice. My name is Christian Lintma and I'll walk us through this briefing today. Um let me first introduce the podium. First and foremost in the middle we have Dr. Alanom Gabrius, who director general.

[00:00:29]Then to his right side um is Dr. Maria Vancerkov, acting director for epidemic and pandemic management. Next to her is Anais Leon, technical lead for viral hemorrhagic fevers. On Dr. Tedra's left side, we first have Dr. Chu Eekazu.

[00:00:48]He's um executive director for WHO's health emergency program. And last but not least on his left side is Dr. Abdi Mahmud. He's director for health emergencies um alert and response. We have few other colleagues here which I would introduce in case we come to them.

[00:01:07]Now we will first hear from um Dr. Tedra's opening remarks and then we will go to the questions. Now for questions two things. First please identify yourself clearly. uh we will not be able to take anyone who we cannot identify online and second we believe we will have a lot of questions today and you are very curious which is good. Um but please also remember in case your question was already asked put your hand down again um so that we can have a better overview what is still left what we will want to deal with now with this thank you very much and heading over to Dr. address.

[00:01:50]>> Thank you. Thank you, Christian. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening. Thank you for joining us for this briefing on the Hanta virus situation.

[00:02:01]Let me begin by outlining what has happened, what we know, what we don't know, and what WH has done.

[00:02:10]Last Saturday, the United Kingdom notified who WHO under the international health regulations of a cluster of passengers with severe respiratory illness on a Dutch flagged cruise ship, the MV Hondus which had traveled from Argentina to Capo Verde.

[00:02:30]So far, eight cases have been reported, including three deaths.

[00:02:37]Five of the eight cases have been confirmed as hent virus and the other three are suspected.

[00:02:45]Antiviruses are a group of viruses carried by rodents that can cause severe disease in humans.

[00:02:54]People are usually infected through contact with infected rodents or their urine droppings or saliva.

[00:03:03]The species of antivirus involved in this case is the Andis virus which is found in Latin America and is the only speech known to be capable of limited transmission between humans.

[00:03:17]In previous outbreaks of Andbis virus, transmission between people has been associated with close and prolonged contact particularly among household members, intimate partners and people providing medical care.

[00:03:35]That appears to be the case in the current situation.

[00:03:40]The first case was in a man who developed symptoms on the 6th of April and died on the ship on the 11th of April.

[00:03:53]No samples were taken and because his symptoms were similar to those of other respiratory diseases, Havirus was not suspected.

[00:04:05]The man's wife went ashore when the ship docked at the island of St. Helena and was also symptomatic.

[00:04:15]She deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg on the 25th of April and died the next day.

[00:04:25]samples were taken which were tested at South Africa's National Institute of Communicable Diseases and confirmed as habirus.

[00:04:35]The third death was of a woman on the ship who developed symptoms on the 28th of April and died on the 2nd of May.

[00:04:46]Another man presented to the ship's doctor on the 24th of April and he was evacuated on the 25th of April from the island of Ascension to South Africa where he remains in intensive care.

[00:05:05]Doctors from Kabu Verde boarded the ship to provide care for the three other passengers with symptoms.

[00:05:13]WHO coordinated their evacuation to the Netherlands for treatment.

[00:05:18]I would like to thank Prime Minister Ruises Korea Silva of Kabu Verde for his support in facilitating the evacuation of these three patients based on our request.

[00:05:31]Two are in a stable condition in hospital and one is asytomatic and is now in Germany.

[00:05:39]The eighth case was in a man who disembarked in St. Helena following advice from the ship's operator. He reported himself with symptoms in Zurich, Switzerland, and was confirmed yesterday to be infected with Hanta virus.

[00:05:58]The Geneva University Hospitals then sequenced the virus and confirmed it as Andis.

[00:06:07]None of the remaining passengers or crew on the ship are currently symptomatic.

[00:06:14]Who is aware of reports of other people with symptoms who may have had contact with one of the passengers in each case we're in close contact with the relevant authorities.

[00:06:29]Given the incubation period of the Andes virus which can be up to six weeks, it's possible that more cases may be reported.

[00:06:40]While this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the public health risk as low.

[00:06:49]It also shows why the international health regulations exist and how they work.

[00:06:55]WHO is working with multiple governments and partners on the response under those regulations.

[00:07:04]Our priorities are to ensure the affected patients receive care, that the remaining passengers on the ship are kept safe and treated with dignity, and to prevent any further spread of the virus.

[00:07:20]On Monday, I asked Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain to accept the ship, which he agreed to agreed to do. And I thank Prime Minister Sanchez for his generosity, solidarity, and meeting his moral duty.

[00:07:38]The ship is now sailing for the Canary Islands, and we're confident in the capacity of Spain to manage this risk, and we're supporting them to do so.

[00:07:49]Once again, we assess the risk to the people of the Canary Islands as low.

[00:07:57]WHO has provided guidance to the ship's operator on the management of health on board the vessel. All passengers have been asked to stay in their cabins. The cabins are being disinfected and anyone who shows symptoms will be isolated immediately.

[00:08:14]A who expert boarded the ship in Cababo Verde and has been joined by two doctors from the Netherlands and an expert from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control who will stay on the ship until it reaches the Canary Islands.

[00:08:32]They're conducting a medical assessment of everyone on board and gathering information to assess their risk of infection.

[00:08:41]WHO is developing step-by-step operational guidance for the safe and respectful disembarkation and onward travel of passengers and crew when they arrive.

[00:08:54]WHO has also informed 12 countries whose nationals disembarked in St. Helena.

[00:09:01]Those 12 countries are Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, St. kits and navies, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

[00:09:19]In addition, WHO is supporting health authorities in South Africa to follow up people who were on the flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg with the woman who later died.

[00:09:32]Meanwhile, investigations into the cause of the outbreak are continuing.

[00:09:38]Prior to boarding the ship, the first two cases had traveled through Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay on a bird watching trip, which included visits to sites where the species of rat that's known to carry and virus was present.

[00:09:57]WHO is working with health authorities in Argentina to understand the movements of the couple and I thank the government of Argentina for its cooperation given its experience and expertise with and virus.

[00:10:13]We have also arranged for shipments of 2500 diagnostic kits from Argentina to laboratories in five countries.

[00:10:23]I would also like to thank the governments of Kabu Verde, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, and the United Kingdom for their close partnership and support.

[00:10:34]I also thank the many partners who have provided expertise including the NICD in South Africa, the institute pastor Dhakar in Sagal and the HU here in Switzerland.

[00:10:50]And I would also like to thank the ship's operator for its cooperation and the passengers and crew who are going through a very difficult and frightening situation.

[00:11:02]I have been in touch with the ship's captain regularly, including this morning. He told me morale has improved significantly since the ship started moving again.

[00:11:15]I thank him for everything he has done to protect those under his duty of care.

[00:11:22]WHO will continue to work with all relevant governments and partners to provide care for those who are affected, protect the safety and dignity of passengers and prevent onward spread of the virus. Christian, back to you.

[00:11:40]>> Thank you very much, Dr. Tedros. With this we come now to the rounds of questions and answers. Again uh please identify yourself clearly, raise your hand if you want to ask a question. Um then unmute yourself if yourself if called upon and please also take down your hand in case your question has been asked and answered by one of the colleagues. Now this the first question goes to Spanish news agency FA Antonio Broto. Antonio please go ahead.

[00:12:09]>> Uh thank you Christian. Um so uh my first question is in Spain the central government and the regional authorities of the Canary Islands remain divided about the issue of the ship's stopover.

[00:12:25]So could you indicate what asurances the Spanish government has provided and what kind of assistance the WH will provide once the ship arrives to Tenerife in this weekend? If I may, I have a second question about this Dutch starters that has been hospitalized today in Amsterdam. Do you have data on this case and how she may be infected?

[00:12:54]Did she travel in the same plane than one of the disease from St. Helen to Johannesburg? Thank you.

[00:13:04]>> Thank you very much, Antonio. With the first question, we go to Dr. Abdi Mahmud, Director Health and Emergencies Alert and Response.

[00:13:15]>> Thanks so much. Uh, echoing again the appreciation of the excellent support from Spain leadership, the technical team and all the actors included. In terms of our understanding, we do hear the concerns coming from the regional government and as DG indicated, we are doing everything possible to understand the risk. As of now, what we know that three the two confirmed case and suspected have been evacuated. The ship is doing everything possible to take the public health measures. So the overall risk that from our side is minimal. But we know that people has a long incubation period. So we have a clear guidance working with our ECDC colleication measures. So we have clear disembarkation plan that will not add additional risk. So we are taking all the measures required to reduce as overall our assessment and we'll get more details from the team on the ship.

[00:14:20]It's a low risk. So we are we are coordinating with our ECDC colleagues with the UK with the Netherlands with all the pass countries who have passengers on the floor to understand a common way.

[00:14:36]One is to pre reduce a further spread of the disease which we see is limited and then have a common understanding a common approach based on public health and evidence solidarity and equity. I think they we are in touch with them and we'll resolve the logistic issues and the guidance required to implement this and reduce and take any considerations and feedback from the community the regional government. Once again we thank the federal government for their excellent support.

[00:15:07]>> Thank you very much Abdi. For the second part we go to Maria Vancov pardon me all first. Yeah, I just wanted to add to what Abdi said. Um based on the international health regulations uh guidance uh we have made a request to Spain and uh I have actually sent a letter personally to his excellency the prime minister. Um and based on that request because this is part of the IHR regulation uh the prime minister have accepted. Uh but one thing I'd like to address here is on top of the um you know the guidelines in the HR regulation solidarity is the most important here and that's what the prime minister has has uh shown. uh but on top of that uh I think everybody has the moral duty to take care of the people who are on on on the ship. Uh so um I hope uh those who have concerns at the Canary Island will understand and support uh and cooperate with the uh federal uh government. Uh, of course we understand their concerns but as I said in my statement uh based on the risk assessment that we have um the risk to the people in the Canary Island is actually low. Uh so uh the ship is now sailing to Canary Island and I hope all the support uh will be uh provided and thank you.

[00:16:55]>> Thank you very much Dr. Tedros. The second part we go to Maria Vancerkov, acting director epidemic and pandemic management.

[00:17:02]>> Yes, thank you. So I I believe the second question was related to um a potential suspect case. So as the DG said in his uh remarks, we're getting reports of uh suspect cases or potential suspect cases. These are alerts as we call them. Some of them have had reported links to the ship or passengers on the ship. All of those will be followed up with the relevant authorities in each country. the countries themselves um whether it's through the ministries or through the agencies in the countries are actually assessing each person case by case looking at what type of exposure did they have are they developing any symptoms if anyone is developing symptoms to be isolated uh immediately testing to take place and providing the appropriate support um this is actually how the case in Switzerland was identified following the notification from the ship's operators which we're very grateful for this individual presented to healthcare wasn't wasn't feeling well, was immediately isolated, was tested. This is actually public health actions in work uh in the works.

[00:18:00]Um and I did just want to add on the on the global solidarity side of things, you know, in in all of the efforts that we're doing right now, including the ship sailing to the Canary Islands and to support the Spanish authorities, we've pulled together all of the global experts related to haunt viruses, in particular the Andes virus. And that global solidarity also falls into place on the technical side of things as well.

[00:18:22]Coming together saying what do we know?

[00:18:24]What have we learned from past outbreaks? What's going on in the current situation? And essentially how can we help? Uh and that type of technical solidarity is really helpful.

[00:18:33]Some of the diagnostic kits and the reagents that we are sending are also going to Spain. Um so that will support in some of the on some of the uh further investigations that need to take place.

[00:18:43]So there overall um we're very grateful for all of those who've come together uh from the technical side as well to support this event.

[00:18:52]>> Thank you very much. Next question goes to Nina Larson from AFP. Nina, please go ahead.

[00:19:04]>> Yeah. Hello. Can you hear me?

[00:19:06]>> All well.

[00:19:08]>> Great. Um, so I was going to ask if you um would you consider uh this outbreak to be an epidemic and also um should uh what would you say about people wearing masks? Should we be should people be wearing masks? Is it considered to be airborne and also how long should contacts remain in isolation uh to avoid further spread? Thank you.

[00:19:34]>> Thank you very much Nina and we go back to Dr. Very fun.

[00:19:38]>> Yeah. So, thanks Nina. So, what we have is you know obviously the situation that's happening on the ship itself and the followup of the contacts uh of the passengers who disembarked in St. Helena. So, so far as you've heard we have eight uh cases so far, five of whom have been confirmed, three who have sadly died. We have no further symptomatic patients who are on board or passengers or crew on board I should say which is a good sign but of course there is a long incubation period of the Andes virus. We know on board um they have taken some precautions um to try to minimize the risk. What they have advised on board um is disinfection of the rooms. They have confined people to their cabins and providing food and water. And they have asked as a precautionary measure for anyone leaving their room, excuse me, to wear a medical mask. Um we certainly advise people who are caring for those who are suspected um of this Andes virus or hunter viruses to wear a higher level of personal protective equipment. um that guidance has been given to the people on board but also there are the two patients that are in hospital in the Netherlands and there's a patient in ICU uh in South Africa and I am very happy to say the patient in South Africa is doing better and the two patients in the Netherlands we hear are stable so that is actually very good news so we have a a situation that we are we are full we are uh monitoring very very carefully these these numbers may change um as we're doing follow-up we may see some additional cases be reported Um and that shows that the active followup is happening and that the testing is being done. What we know about transmission um and there's been a lot of questions uh posed to us about you know what is actually happening.

[00:21:14]What we do know is that the Andes virus in previous outbreaks there has been instances of humanto human transmission mainly among close contacts either providing clinical care or people who have had close physical contact and we believe that's happening and has happened in the case here on the ship as well between the couple the first and second cases and also a medical doctor providing care. Um as you probably know those who develop um symptoms those who who go on to develop uh disease sometimes uh develop very severe disease which includes severe respiratory uh disease. So there may be some coughing there may be some um aerosolizing procedures that may be done and of course that's where we would require higher level care. So this is not COVID this is not influenza it spreads very very differently. So there are different precautions that people are taking. So, we are supporting the ship's operators in the mitigation measures that they are putting on board. And as we've said, we are working to have a proper and full disembarkment procedure step by step to support um authorities in the Canary Islands for the next stage of the people who are on board.

[00:22:21]>> And Dr. Mahmud, please.

[00:22:24]>> No, there was the second part of the question about whether this is an epidemic or pandemic and all the things going on social media. I just wanted to address the situation. What makes unique here is similarity crowded in a confined space. We had a similar situation in Argentina in 2018 to 2019 when a symptotomatic individual attended a social gathering. So that led to a lot of people getting infected. So we are in a similar situation right now. A cluster in a confined space with close contact.

[00:23:00]Does that mean the rest of the world this disease will spread? We had that outbreak in 2018 and it led only 34 cases. We may had similar cases from there. So I just want to show that if we follow public health measures and the lessons we learned from Argentina now is shared across all countries. What needs to happen in contact tracing isolation we can break this chain of transmission and this doesn't need to be a large epidemic. It's an a specific confined setting where people are interacting in a prolonged close contact. So we feel it's very quite familiar to the 2000 outbreak in Argentina and we don't anticipate a large epidemic. With experience our member state have and the actions they have taken, we believe that this will not led to subsequent chain of transmission. But we need to be balanced, reasonable, supportive solidarity in containing this outbreak in a difficult environment that's happening there being in the weeks after weeks there. It's difficult. So the solidarity required and the support most of the people there as DG said are healthy individuals who are going with their lives. So is the public health measures able to break down the chain of transmission and we believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity is shown across all countries.

[00:24:29]>> Thank you very much both. Next question goes to Christian from DPA.

[00:24:34]Christristian please go ahead.

[00:24:40]>> Yes, thank you very much. Uh my question goes in the same direction but a little bit further. We are six years out from um corona uh pandemic. Um this also started with very few cases and you experts know how this is different but we and our readers might not. I was wondering whether one of you can outline specifically how this is not uh uh uh um comparable to the uh early days or weeks of the corona pandemic and why uh uh the risks are lower than they were six years ago with corona. Thank you.

[00:25:24]>> Yeah, good comparison. Let's see if it is one. Dr. Verkov, please. I'm going to start and then I'm going to ask our expert here and I used to come in because this is not corona virus. Uh this is a very different virus. We know this virus. Hunto viruses have been around for quite a while. There's a lot of detail that we know. I'm going to ask an to come in and say this, but I want to be unequivocal here. This is not SARS KV2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic. This is an outbreak that we see on a ship. There's a confined area.

[00:25:52]We have five confirmed cases so far. We completely understand why these questions are coming and we are trying to provide all of the information that we can. That's why we're having a press conference here to give accurate information and we're grateful for all of those who out there who are asking these types of questions. But this is not the same situation we were in six years ago. Um it doesn't spread the same way um like corona viruses do. It's very different. It's that close intimate contact that we've seen. And most haunt viruses don't transmit between people at all. Most haunt viruses are transmitted from rodents or their feces or their saliva um or droppings um to people and only this one particular virus the Andes virus which has been identified here we've seen some human human transmission and again I want to reiterate the actions that are being taken on board are precautionary to prevent any onward spread and so there's a lot that is being done right now um to be able try to minimize the risk even further um but I do want NI to come in and provide a little bit. No.

[00:26:54]>> Okay. Oh, okay. Thank you.

[00:26:58]>> Thank you very much. Um, next we have a question actually from Cabo V, but it came in in writing, so I'm going to read it out. It is um, hello and good afternoon. It is the Tudo Poco, the news website in Cabo. Thank you for that question. On May 2nd, a person died aboard the MB Hondos. As we know um the ship arrived afterwards in Kabada. The question is where was the body stored uh of the deceased or where is it right now?

[00:27:32]>> Yeah, thank you very much. So yes um in fact you are correct. Um uh an older woman uh died on board. Um the ship's operators are making arrangements for the remains um to be um stored appropriately uh carefully um and to make the onward um movement of the the remains um in a dignified way. So the the remains still are on board um we are in touch with the ship's operators about this um and about any onward um passage of the remains. So I think I'll just leave it at that. Um, but yes, of course, and this is a reminder, these are people. Um, these people have families and they have questions. Um, but we're in in contact with the operators about the safe storage and and the onward um movement of the the remains.

[00:28:19]>> Thank you very much. Next question goes to James Gallagher from the BBC. James, please go ahead and unmute.

[00:28:33]James, can you hear us? Yeah, here you go.

[00:28:36]>> It took a while for the popup to unmute to arrive. Thank you. Um, my main question is, could you outline what you think is unusual about this outbreak or does it fit entirely within what we would expect of hivirus outbreaks? And related on that, could you draw on whether you think there is anything fundamentally different or shifting within hiviruses at the moment? I'm just looking at the PAO report from the end of last year citing increases in cases and in some countries lethality in South America if you could draw on those as well please.

[00:29:08]>> Great cham thanks and we go to Anise Leon next to me technical lead and viral hemorrhagic fevers.

[00:29:13]>> Thanks thanks a lot for for the question. uh what is most unusual uh obviously is that we have a transmission in a boat uh which I think that the first documented to date uh with uh this particular virus as uh mentioned by my colleagues before a boat makes it a very specific environment uh for which uh we we we want to make sure that we have a good understanding on how the transmission has happened and most importantly to strengthen all the measures that my colleagues uh developed uh p previously. Uh there is no indication to date that there is something further unusual but obviously the fact that it happened in a cruise ship uh with uh people from different nationalities and uh is something uh that we haven't uh seen before. Uh regarding your comment uh on the POW report, the epidemiological situation related to antiviruses in um in the Americas, uh you are right, a slight increase has been noted in in few countries. Uh just to recall that this update uh covers all antiviruses that are documented in um in the Americas uh where most uh countries uh at risk have good surveillance system and the increase uh can be related to uh several factors that needs to be determined what countries are working on probably linked to uh incidents on rodent population and different uh ecological and be behavioral factors. This doesn't specifically relates to uh this virus we are talking about and I want to recall that uh most anti virus cannot uh transmit human to human uh only the NS1 so it's really linked to the the rodent population over >> thank you very much anise next question know before I come to the next question we have a lot of long list of questions still um and we want to really get to everybody so please try to um limit your questions to one. Um I'm pretty sure many people want to ask the same questions anyway. So next question goes to Lauren Sherro from Swiss News.

[00:31:25]Now we come to Switzerland. Lauren, please go ahead.

[00:31:32]>> Yeah, thank you for for the briefing. a question on contact tracing and the extent of what has already been done because it seems that the guy the the person who is in Zurich right now um was in a flight were not where the contact tracing was not started right away and uh so there is the threat that some people might not have been traced uh in the in the first days after the contact with with that person. So do you know where whether most countries uh affected have uh started but also probably ended uh the contact tracing process? Thank you.

[00:32:13]>> Thank you very much Lauron. This goes to Dr. Mahmood.

[00:32:18]>> Thanks. In terms of contact tracing and the policy for that each country has slightly different. What we recommending from WHO is extensive investigation and information sharing. So this contact the passenger was informed on two channels. One from the company informing the patient and then second from the IHR South Africa sharing that information with Switzerland. So from the national level to the canton level at least we will see it how that information pass because most of the information are shared at the capital level and then it goes to canton what was done here and that's we really need to appreciate the responsibility and the proactiveness of all the passengers contacted they follow the public health message and taken the necessary action. Now the canton and the authorities are doing the investigation