LIVE: WHO Hantavirus update

Added: 2026-05-15

[00:26:32]Hello to everyone from Geneva from WHO headquarters. My name is Tik and I welcome you to this uh regular WH press briefing on global health issues. As always, we have a number of speakers here in the room, some also online who will be ready to answer uh your questions and I will start as always with introducing our speakers. Dr. Tedras, W director general is is with us. Also today we are honored to have our regional director for Africa Dr. Muhammad Yakub Jonabi. Welcome Muhammad. Uh and then uh we will have Dr. Abd Rahman Mahmud, he's a director for health um for health emergency alert and response operations.

[00:27:22]Dr. Maria Vanker Kov is with us as well.

[00:27:25]She's interiming director of WHO's department of epidemic and pandemic management. Dr. Jeremy Farrar is assistant director general for health promotion and disease prevention and care. Also with us is Mr. Sigrid Kranoveteer who is director of WHO governing bodies. Uh uh to my to my right is Mr. Direct Walton uh who legal council and also Dr. Nedret Emiru head of the secretariat for the intergovernmental working group on the WHO pandemic agreement. Uh we may have couple of uh colleagues also online who will be asked to answer your questions if need be. Uh with this I will give the floor to Dr. Tedras for his opening remarks.

[00:28:14]>> Thank you. Thank you TK. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening.

[00:28:20]Today I had a call with the Minister of Health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Minister Roger Ka concerning the new outbreak of Ebola disease in the country's northeastern Italy province.

[00:28:38]Currently WHO is aware that 13 cases of Ebola have been confirmed by INRB in Kinshasa. And on the 5th of May, WHO received a signal of suspected cases and sent a team to it to support DRC health officials in their investigation of the outbreak and collect samples in the field which initially tested negative for Ebola. Samples were subsequently sent to INRB which yesterday confirmed some as positive for Ebola.

[00:29:12]This is the 17th recorded Ebola outbreak in DRC since the virus was first identified in 1976.

[00:29:22]DRC has a strong track record in Ebola response and and control. I have also assured the minister of our full support. The World Health Organization's representative to DRC and other WHO experts are in in Italy and working side by side with DRC health authorities to respond to and contain the outbreak.

[00:29:46]Additional WHO experts in risk communication and community engagement, infection prevention and control, clinical care and logistics will join the WHO team already on the ground in coming days.

[00:30:01]We have deployed medical supplies and protective equipment for infection prevention and control to Buna, the IT provincial capital.

[00:30:11]Today, I have released 500,000 US dollars from WHO's contingency fund for emergencies to immediately support the response. Priority actions include risk communication and community engagement, strengthening dis surveillance, active case finding and contract trace contact tracing, infection prevention and control in health facilities, expanding access to safe clinical care, and increasing laboratory testing capacity.

[00:30:41]WHO will continue working to support the Democratic Republic of the Congo to bring this Ebola outbreak under control and will deploy resources and work with and mobilize partners across the region to contain it its spread and care for those affected.

[00:31:01]The outbreak is a reminder of the persistent threat to human health of disease outbreaks and the importance of cooperation and solidarity to continually strengthen global health security.

[00:31:15]The response to the ha virus outbreak is a recent prime example of what can happen when the world comes together to confront this threat. Yesterday I wrote again to the people of Tenerife to thank them for the solidarity they showed to the passengers and crew of the MBondus affected by the antivirus outbreak. WHO worked together with approximately 30 governments, the ship's captain, crew and passengers, the cruise ship operator and crucially the people of Tenneref to manage this crisis.

[00:31:55]This show of support from Tenerifair will not be forgotten. Today, I hope the rest of the world is inspired by the spirit of the Tenerife and Spanish people. At a time of great division, tension, and uncertaintity, we must respond jointly to common challenges that our global community faces in the spirit of cooperation.

[00:32:19]For as we at WH always say, solidarity is the best immunity.

[00:32:26]I'm pleased to report that the operation to transfer the ship's passengers from Tenneref has been successfully completed with more than 120 people now being carried for in their home countries or quarantined in host countries in route to their final destination.

[00:32:46]Captain Yan Dragoki and his 26 member crew are still on board the MV Hondus and expect to dock in the Netherlands on Monday.

[00:32:57]I remain in regular contact with Captain Yan and again salute him and his crew for their dedication to their passengers and each other. He has informed me that there are still no symptotomatic persons on board as of today.

[00:33:15]WHO repeats that the risk from this event to the global population is low and we will continue to issue updates as needed. As of today, a total of 10 cases including three deaths have been reported to WHO, including eight people who were laboratory confirmed for and this virus infection and two probable.

[00:33:39]There have been no further deaths reported since the 2nd of May. Because of the long incubation period of up to six weeks, more cases may be reported in coming days as passengers return to their countries where they are being quarantined and tested in specialized facilities or at home. This does not mean the outbreak is expanding. It shows that the control measures are working, that laboratory testing is ongoing, and that people are being cared for with support from their governments.

[00:34:15]It's incredible to think that it was less than two weeks ago on the 2nd of May that WH was first notified by the United Kingdom through channels established under the international health regulations of an unknown respiratory disease on board the ship.

[00:34:35]WH immediately convened affected countries, shared information with all member states, worked with the government in Cabo Verde, Spain, the Netherlands, and beyond to coordinate the medical evacuation of sick patients and repatriation of passengers and crew.

[00:34:54]WHO rapidly developed and shared technical guidance for the disembarkation of the people on board and their repatriation home for quarantine and followup.

[00:35:06]WH continues to coordinate the global response and our work is not finished.

[00:35:13]Our current priorities are to continue actively following up on the status of confirmed and suspected cases, to continue to better understand the epidemiology of Andis antivirus, including how this outbreak began and spread and to foster scientific collaboration for optimal clinical care of patients infected with this virus.

[00:35:37]In addition, we're working with more than 20 countries to coordinate studies to better understand the natural history of the disease.

[00:35:48]Today an open scientific consultation on and virus medical counter measures was convened by the UK health security agency and supported by the WH R&D blueprint to identify gaps, improve coordination and establish priorities for research and development into potential antivirus therapeutics and vaccines.

[00:36:11]The importance of vaccines for protecting health cannot be underestimated.

[00:36:18]New findings on the RTSS malaria vaccine generated through the WHO malaria vaccine implementation program confirmed that one in eight childers were averted among these eligible to receive the vaccine in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi from 2019 to 2023.

[00:36:42]WHO recommended malaria vaccines are now available in 25 countries in Africa and wider impact is expected.

[00:36:51]But funding constraints continue to limit the abilities of many countries to scale up to meet national vaccination targets.

[00:37:00]Equitable access and increased and sustained financing of immunization programs are needed to protect children and save lives.

[00:37:09]These subjects and more will likely be raised during and on the sidelines of the 79th World Health Assembly which starts here in Geneva on Monday. I'm looking forward to welcoming all who member states and the global health community to join this critical event.

[00:37:30]We will come together to take stock of the state of global health and find ways to deliver on our goal of achieving the highest level of health or not for some not but for all people on the planet.

[00:37:46]Put simply to achieve health for all.

[00:37:50]Thank you and tar back to you.

[00:37:54]>> Thank you very much Dr. Tadris. We will now start uh with our session of uh questions and answers and we already have number of journalists uh who uh are ready to do so. For all reporters please identify yourself uh in the in in your name in your zoom name and then uh click the icon raise hand if you have a question to ask. So we will start with Ajan France Press and Nina Larson.

[00:38:19]Uh Nina please come in.

[00:38:23]>> Uh yes hi can you hear me? Uh very well.

[00:38:26]>> Uh yeah, thanks Tabisi.

[00:38:30]Uh could you tell me sorry um uh about the Ebola outbreak? It would be interesting to know um you mentioned 13 confirmed cases, but do you have an overview of the number of suspected cases and also deaths? Um and also uh any information about the strain that's spreading um and what level of risk you consider for the uh locally, regionally and internationally.

[00:39:01]Um and finally sorry on the hunter virus I was just wondering if we have any idea about the third uh person who died where u the body is and when we might have a confirm confirmation that that uh person was also infected. Thank you.

[00:39:19]>> Thank you very much. I think we will start with uh with Dr. Mahmud on Eboland then maybe Dr. Vanka can help with the second part of the question.

[00:39:30]>> Thanks so much.

[00:39:31]As Dr. Tedros mentioned, Democratic Republic of Congo has wealth of experience in managing this is the seventh 17th outbreak they're dealing with. So, as part of the surveillance, alerts have been detected and are investigated on timely. So, in the same province, we had two different signals that was investigated by the team. So, I don't want us to go ahead of the government. Right now, they're talking they're looking at all the data. What does the 13 confirmed is coming from most suspected case and triangulating all of the data. So we are waiting for the government to announce the details investigation. The report is being compiled. What was released yesterday from the lab was confirmation and the entirety of the investigation that was going on since uh first week of April from a different health zones. Uh so as of now we don't have the details where who what was the case definition used who is a suspected who's confirmed all those information will come from the government but what we know very well that the country has experience but the region where it is happening is highly volatile with the humanitarian situation going on and the population moving around from South Sudan to Uganda and other parts. So our response is to stand with the regional government with the regional government and the country neighbor in terms of solidarity to show again that they can control this outbreak. In terms of the the species, INSP just had a press conference. I will refer you to that and uh thank you.

[00:41:14]Uh thank you very much Abd Rahman. Now maybe uh our regional director Dr. Janabi would like to add something.

[00:41:23]Thank you, Tariq. U maybe let me just top up um what uh Abd just said.

[00:41:31]DRS has got a lot of experience. If we all remember last year in in August when we had it in Bulap which is a 5 days drive from Kinshasa.

[00:41:45]DSC has got a very strong public health uh services and we went there to complement what uh the government is doing with other UN agencies and other non agencies like CDC Africa. But I want to emphasize it's important to understand the geography this time. Vitoui is 1, 1,700 kilometers from Kishasa. So underscoring the operational complicity of responding rapidly in such a remote and highly mobile settings. So it will prevent that challenging environment and there are some security concerns which can sometimes limit some areas to be reached. population movement is linked to mining and crossber trade accelerates the speed. So it's a very densely populated area and this naturally increase the transmission rate. So we are dealing with very two different environment comparing to so at the same time logistic constraints and the need to build that sustain community trust uh make the response even uh very urgent needed so I wanted to top up on that >> thank you very much um Dr. Janabi maybe we go to second part of question with Dr. Yeah, thanks very much for the question.

[00:43:13]So, the question was about the the death um the third death reported in the haunt virus um outbreak on the ship. Um this was an older woman who did die on board on the 2nd of May. Um and indeed uh there were some samples that were collected from her prior to her death um that were tested in the Netherlands and her test results came back positive. So, she's one of the three of the confirmed cases out of the 10 um in that outbreak.

[00:43:37]her remains um are on board. Um and as we've said before um you know we're working with the ship um for the appropriate proper care uh of her remains and of course to get those remains back to her loved ones. So um that will be something that will be in process but I won't answer any more about that here.

[00:43:57]>> Thank you very much. Uh we have a number of uh raised hands so I would really ask journalists to stick to one question. We go to start to Andrew Joseph. Andrew, please unmute yourself and go ahead.

[00:44:14]>> Hi there. Um, thanks very much. I have a question on Ebola vaccines, please. Um I know the strain still needs to be confirmed but just are there is there a supply of human doses of some of the experimental vaccines for whether it's Sudan or Bundogio which I may have just mispronounced and also are there any data that the licensed vaccines offer any cross protection AC um across strains. Thank you.

[00:44:37]>> Thank you Andrew.

[00:44:41]>> Thank you. Yes, as you rightly saying, different Ebola strains have different we have an approved vaccine for Ebola.

[00:44:49]We have vaccine candidate for Sudan and we are not aware any vaccine ready for clinical trial as WH. We reached out through our R&D blueprint to accelerate the timeline of the availability of vaccines research use. We have protocol ready. We worked very closely with INSB and NRB to start therapeutic and vaccine research as they become available. So our work going on the groundwork is ready. Our R&D blueprint is working with all partners to see the availability if it is confirmed to be bundi.

[00:45:27]>> Thanks. And to supplement this so as Abdi has said there's a lot that's ongoing to determine the strain. So in addition to what he said of working with the R&D blueprint and the protocols, we also have vaccines that that can be prepositioned uh DRC has experience with working with vaccines before. So as this outbreak unfolds, as more information becomes available, we are ready to provide those through mechanisms that already exist. Um should it turn out to be a strain that can be a vaccine where a vaccine can be used Thank you. Uh Dr. Jabi, would you like to add something?

[00:46:07]>> Yeah, ju just to top it up. Uh vaccine is only one of the measures here. I think we need to intensify surveillance, contact tracing, infection prevention and control and safe and dignified barriers where it will be and community engagement. So on top of vaccine these are the things who is actively on the ground doing it.

[00:46:40]Thank you. Thank you all three of you.

[00:46:42]The next question goes to ABC. We have Draana Yolanovich. Draana.

[00:46:52]Uh can you unmute please?

[00:46:59]Uh Draa, you need to to unmute uh from your side.

[00:47:05]Uh we may come back to you. Next is uh Gabrielle Emmanuel from NPR. Gabrielle.

[00:47:18]>> Hi. Yes. Thank you so much for doing this. I wanted to better understand how what the current thinking is in terms of transmission of the haunt virus and whether um close prolonged contact is truly necessary or does it seem to spread in some cases where there's not actually um that close contact. Thank you.

[00:47:42]>> Thank you Gabriela. Dr. Wikov.

[00:47:44]>> Yeah, thanks very much for this question. So, we we've been getting this question a lot and it's it's good to keep asking um because in this situation where obviously we're learning a lot about the outbreak that's been happening on the ship. There is quite a bit of experience with HANA viruses in general and these are typically viruses that are in rodents that spill over into humans.

[00:48:01]We do note that the Andes virus which is responsible for this outbreak that we have on the ship um can transmit between people. Um there is some e evidence um certainly in the outbreak that we have right now of humanto human transmission.

[00:48:15]I do want to remind everyone that our our general risk for the global public is is low. I do want to continue to put that into context especially when we talk about different types of outbreaks and different types of viruses in this press conference. But in the current situation that we have now, we do know um our working hypothesis is that the outbreak began um with infection prior to the disembarkment of the ship um perhaps based on some activities of the first or the second case prior to boarding. And we do know that there might be humanto human transmission on board particularly between a husband and wife, between the ship's doctor and a patient. Um and what we're trying to do right now is look at the exposures. So from past experience yes uh the experiences around close contact where people are spending they're physically close to one another might be in include physical contact um could be through respiratory particles but what we want to gauge here is um some uncertainty that we have um we have classified everybody that's been on the ship as a high-risk contact because we simply don't have all of the answers yet. So, we are taking a precautionary approach um assuming that there might be additional cases that were on board, which is why um the quarantine measures are so strict for those who have left the ship already. But I think what I want to do to answer your question is that we're learning. Um and when we learn more, we will update you as possible. So, I could tell you what our typical experience has been. there has been another outbreak of Andes virus uh involving a birthday party and there has been more casual contact where infection may have occurred. So we simply want to learn a bit more and in the meantime up our precautions um to take a more prudent measure to stop this outbreak.

[00:50:03]So in our recommendations, we have re recommended through the disembarkment and the repatriation home of the patient of the passengers wear and crew wearing respirators again to take that extra layer of precaution. But I think we need to to um learn a bit more and then report more as as we learn.

[00:50:22]>> Thank you Dr. Wankerov. Let's try one more time with Draana from ABC.

[00:50:27]Draa, can you now unmute yourself and ask a question?

[00:50:37]Well, it seems it seems. Okay, let's try. Dragon, can you hear us?

[00:50:43]>> I I do hear it. I do. You hear me?

[00:50:48]>> Oh, there's a echo, but let's try.

[00:50:56]Uh, no, it doesn't seem working. So let's uh let's move on. Uh let's go to Pretty Patik from uh Geneva Health Files.

[00:51:05]Pretty just a second we are trying to adjust. Pretty can you hear us? No.

[00:51:22]Should we go to the next one? Chris.

[00:51:24]Okay. Next one in line is Hannah from Canada Press. Hannah, can you hear us?

[00:51:33]>> Can you?

[00:51:33]>> Yes, can you hear me?

[00:51:34]>> Hi Hannah. Yes, we can hear you.

[00:51:37]>> Hi, good morning. Um, my name is Hannah Albera from the Canadian Press. Uh, my question will touch on low-risk contacts with respect to Havirus. So yesterday, Canada's top doctor said there were 26 cases here um of who the European public health officials had classified as no risk. But Canada is deeming them as low risk and some of these people are being advised to quarantine for 45 days.

[00:52:07]What do you make of the inconsistent assessment given what we know from CO about sort of guidance being inconsiderate inconsistent potentially breeding mistrust?

[00:52:25]>> Yep. So thanks. Um what I can provide try to provide an answer for you on is is what our recommendations are. Um we simply because this is an ongoing outbreak. Um there has been the successful repatriation of passengers and crew uh from the Canary Islands back to their home countries. And again the DG has thanked um Spain and the people of the of Canary Islands. And there's so many people to thank for that incredible operation.

[00:52:56]um because there's you're on a ship and people spend a lot of time together. Um we're looking at what those types of exposures are and there's a going to be a lot of epidemiological investigation to say this was a higher risk, this was a lower risk. But for us at WHO and for our recommendations, we've been very clear that all of the passengers and crew that were on board we consider high risk because we simply don't know the types of contact that they had with each other um prior to knowing that it was haunt virus in board. And our recommendations are for quarantine to be 42 days from the last point of exposure um in a specialized facility where people are cared for or at home. And if it is done at home to be an assessment uh conducted by health authorities to ensure that the person can be at home, they have a separate bathroom. They have all of the provisions that they need to not put anybody else at risk. We have the 42-day period because of the long incubation period, which means people could be incubating. they could be they could be infected and and not know it.

[00:53:55]They may not test positive. They may not develop symptoms until that last day. Um we do expect there's a lot of testing that's ongoing in countries right now and we're working with all of the countries um on their protocols and indeed our recommendations are just that um what countries do is up to them. The policies that they set and how they follow up is up to them. We have been speaking with the countries and what we do understand is that um the contacts are in quarantine um that we are aware of in all the conversations we have had and many of the countries are deciding they'll do an assessment maybe two weeks from now or 3 weeks from now and decide can that individual be safe does do they need to stay in a specialized facility or can they go home so again it's a bit of a dynamic situation but our recommendations are very clear because we know um all of the people who are on board we know the people who have left uh who left the ship in St. Helena, the people who were on board the flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg, who cared for the people in Johannesburg. Um, and we know the denominator, if you will. We know how many people might be infected.

[00:54:57]And that's why we feel so strongly that we can in working with governments can really stop this. And so that's why there's so much active engagement with all of the countries right now.

[00:55:08]>> Thank you so much. I will uh I will read the question that Draana from ABC sent and she sent it also by email. So let's let's try with it and it's again for you I think uh Maria we are hearing that a team of Argentine scientists may travel to next week to investigate whether havarus could have been present there before the hundus departed on April 1st.

[00:55:34]Can you confirm if this is correct?

[00:55:37]Also, is who involved or supporting any additional field investigations linked to the outbreak?

[00:55:44]>> Yeah, this is a great question. So, there is an incredible collaboration scientifically and public health um not only with member states for the operation but also to understand how this outbreak began. Um we are uh who colleagues we are working with colleagues in Argentina in Chile in Uruguay um and around the world specifically with people who have experience with Andes virus um to really understand how this outbreak began. Um there's a lot of detail that is ongoing right now of looking at um some of the exposures uh particularly with the first and second cases. And I do want to emphasize for those of you who are reporting on that to really respect the privacy and and the confidentiality of those two individuals um who unfortunately lost their lives in this outbreak. Um so I just urge you to be careful about using names and identifiers. Um but yes, we are working with people in Argentina uh who are looking at the movements of those people. Also looking at past honorus outbreaks uh in South America where they occurred in humans where there have been detection in rodents and I I certainly hope we are able uh who is able to support further field investigations. So this is just this is pure field epidemiology linking in the lab with the sequences. Um and we actually hope to be able to report on that um very very soon uh because it's quite an active uh outbreak investigation ongoing that that's happening right now.

[00:57:16]>> Thank you. Let's move on. We still have a number of reporters with their hands up. Mike Sto from Associated Press.

[00:57:25]Mike.

[00:57:29]>> Um hi. Thank you for taking my question.

[00:57:32]I was wondering if you could update us a little bit on any uh genomic sequencing or genetic analysis of the virus to see if it's um more transmissible or uh dangerous than um the Andes virus that was identified at that birthday party in late 2018 2019. Who's who's doing the genomic analysis and what has it found so far? And I I guess as part of that, have any virus samples been shared with the United States uh the US CDC or any institutions over here? And is it important or helpful that um US uh labs be working on this also?

[00:58:14]>> Thank you, Mike. So Maria, >> yes. So I'm assuming you're talking about the hunt virus. I think you said Andes in your question there, but there are quite a few labs that are working on genomic sequencing. Um I do want to thank um NICD in South Africa uh institute pastor Dakar um in Sagal um the Swiss uh at the uh Asu Xi here the university here in Geneva for doing incredible sequencing so fast because if you remember when we actually heard about this a couple of weeks ago we weren't sure it was a hunter virus and they quickly NICD quickly did the diagnosis and sequencing um this work these sequences have been shared um and they are being compared uh with a big group of laboratory uh experts um who WHO has convened to work together to assess the sequence itself um to compare the current sequence with other previously shared sequences um of hunter viruses in general but also of the Andes virus. I am not a verologist but what they are telling me is um and what they have said is that they haven't identified any changes to suggest a change in the virus to make it more transmissible, more severe, anything like that. Um but what we do hope actually is to have more samples coming from rodents um so that we can look at the sequences within the rodents themselves so that we could do a deeper analysis of really understanding the circulation of this virus particularly uh in South America and and really disentangle and understand how circulation happens and how we can prevent spillover and outbreaks happening uh into the future. the US is is involved um in terms of USCDC uh working with us on this. Um we have a system in place where samples sequences certainly we want to be shared with publicly accessible databases um so that others can do analysis with those with proper attribution. Um we also have what we have what the DG established called the biohub where we can share biological materials and of course we're looking to have some of those materials in the biohub um to share for research purposes as well. So there's a lot of active engagement. We at WHO will work with um any researchers that are interested to work with us for the for the good of of public health and really to understand that.

[01:00:34]>> Dr. Mos thanks Maria. Maria covered the most of it but I wanted to add two points because the question of transmission comes up every time and it's headlines in some newspapers.

[01:00:46]We are talking about probability the probability of transmission from an infected person to another that depends on the virus. That was the question asked by the journalist which really good and answered by our viologist how we are seeing the vi the virus and its evolution which we haven't seen much change. And then there are three factors included on that. One is the infected person how infectious is like the case of the battery party we had someone what was called a super spreader. How the level of infection that person has very important on that.

[01:01:23]Second is the environment that it's happening in a crowded party or in a cabin. It has an impact. And then the third element the person being transmitted. what protection measures is is taken is person wearing PPE or not.

[01:01:39]So this the interaction of the virus plus the person plus the environment and the protection will lead is the likelihood of a transmission and then there's the likelihood of a disease happening. So I just for those simplistic headlines it's a big science I would really encourage people to took viologist and the people and the experts who have been dealing this what we did who taking the precautionary principle we didn't talk about distance and how much that we requested everybody to be quarantine at home or an institution so you remove all the other infections you don't tell someone to go out and keep to 2 m distance or 1.5 We know the contacts and 450 people in entire planet. It's easy to monitor and make sure the the passengers, the crews and people who have been in contact stay home or in a monitored quarantine. So you remove all the factors and the likelihood to achieve a zero onward transmission. Thank you.

[01:02:44]>> Thank you so much Dr. Muhammad for providing these points. Um then we go to next question. We have a scientific American and we have we have Adam Kovatch with us. Adam, can you please unmute yourself?

[01:03:00]>> Hi, good morning and thanks for taking my question. Uh my question is about how long uh the infectious phase can uh last in the uh infected people uh who have been identified for with Andy's virus and virus. uh do we know how long the infectious phase will last and how long the virus can uh stay detectable in uh in the body? I'm sure you might be aware there's a case study that's going around right now that indicating that uh the virus uh was still was still detectable in one patient uh six years after the original infection. And I'm just wondering if that's normal or if that's some kind of outlier.

[01:03:43]>> Yeah, thanks. Thanks very much. So, actually, uh, one of the things we're trying to do right now through our R&D blueprint is set up what we call a natural history study. Um, there's a protocol that has been developed, uh, in collaboration with pretty incredible scientists from many different countries. Um, to look exactly at that question. Um so far about 20 countries um that have repatriated passengers and crew um have signaled an interest to work with us on this. And essentially what this uh protocol will do, this study will do is to look at serial sampling, regular sampling of individuals who are in quarantine to look at one are they infected but two are they infectious. Just because someone has an infection detected, it could be detected through P corology, which might mean a indication of a past infection. But this is exactly the type of thing we would like to get a better handle on. So we there is some evidence in the literature that's out there. It's very limited because while of course you know we have seen thousands of havirus infections most of those are different hunto viruses and they spill over from rodents into humans but we've had very few clusters of Andes virus and and this outbreak again as tragic as it has been for the people who are directly affected for the people who have lost their lives and their families we also want to work um with them of course and the governments who are caring for them to to collect information to better understand. This is part of what we do here at WHO and through our R&D blueprint um to be able to collect this type of information. And yes, we are aware of the study um looking at uh positivity in semen. So part of this natural history study will actually look at this. So, um, again, the the story of of this outbreak, I think I think will be studied for years and years, um, because it is such a unique situation where we've had the entrance onto a ship, we've had an enclosed setting, um, where people spend long periods of time together, um, doesn't mean everybody has the same type of risk, but for operational purposes, we are taking the most precautions as we can. Um, so we hope to have better answers to that as the scientists continue to work together and public health officials continue to work together.

[01:05:58]and Dr. Mahmood please.

[01:06:01]>> No, Maria has covered it. If the question was about the RNA detections, once someone recovers, we see RNA in the samples collected and that can last depending on the study durations. As Maria said, there's a study going on and we want to understand, but there's a difference between RNA detection and the infectionness of that.

[01:06:26]uh and we it will be answered. There's a lot we don't know and is an evolving this is the second large outbreak we heard of and but I just wanted to differentiate between RNA detections and the infections of that the person >> thank you so much uh Dr. Mahmood Dr. I think we can go for two final questions. Pretty hopefully is back.

[01:06:50]Priti Patnik, Geneva Health Files.

[01:06:52]Pretty >> hi, good afternoon. Uh thank you uh for uh taking my question. Uh I I just wanted to uh know uh maybe I missed it uh because I was not here intermittently.

[01:07:11]uh but um under what circumstances uh will the IHR emergency committee be convened or has it already been convened with respect to the antivirus situation and whether uh the shepherd will also be discussing uh the hentus. Thank you so much.

[01:07:31]If we understood the question is if and when IR committee will convene who would like to take that one I I can start and then Maria can supplement there's a process where the DG triggers IHR emergency committee currently we have not reached that threshold is a disease we have known of course there's a lot we don't know about it from our risk assessment as we said globally is and the interventions done by the government of all the contacts we anticipate not to call emergency committee for that if there's a change if there's a samples collected and the person being followed we see a new change in the virus of course DG will be the first person to convene but our current understanding of the epidemology clinical and environment does not show us we need an emergency committee to advise whether this are fake or not. Yes, we've been updating the Sheeper. Uh last month we gave them an update on the ongoing we yesterday we had our internal oversight committee. We gave them off. So the all the governance bodies are informed. We've been informing our member states on the situation and what we have done so far.

[01:08:50]At this stage we don't anticipate an emergency committee for this and this virus as it is now.

[01:08:59]Yeah, and if I just may so completely agree uh with Abdi and and the assessments that we are making and this again I would like to contextualize this outbreak of hunter virus. Um we have a situation where we have um an enclosed setting now with this ship. Now what we are trying to do is very thorough contact tracing for anyone who came in contact with this ship. Particularly anybody who disembarked in St. Helena, anybody who traveled from St. Helena to South Africa, anyone who came in contact with patients in South Africa and to really make sure that we understand how many people were potentially exposed.

[01:09:37]This is very different than COVID. It's very different than than influenza. Um and so these critical actions that are taking place are in an effort to further contain it. Now, as we've said that these individuals have been repatriated home, they're in quarantine. There's a lot of laboratory testing that's happening right now and the incubation period is long. We may report additional cases, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the outbreak is expanding. It actually means that the people who are in quarantine are being tested. They're being cared for. And so, we need to be careful with our communication as well to explain what is happening. There's a lot of attention to this and we completely understand. The questions about transmission are spoton. Um, and we're doing our best to answer those while explaining that we don't have all of the answers, but the outbreak is contained so far. Um, and we and our member states and our partners are doing everything we can to ensure that that stays in place. Um, so the risk to the general public remains low. And as Abdia said, we will do regular updates and risk assessments and if some should something change and should the DG need to trigger um the mechanisms that he has to convene an emergency committee, we will. Right now we have a situation where everyone has cooperated incredibly demonstrating the critical importance of the international health regulations, the critical importance of coming together to actually work together to stop this outbreak.

[01:11:06]>> Thank you very much. So we'll take one last question. That's Albei from DPA.

[01:11:14]Albe.

[01:11:16]>> Yes. Hello. Uh, can you hear me?

[01:11:18]>> Uh, yes.

[01:11:20]>> Yes. Thank you. Just one uh short followup to what Dr. Tedra said at the top on on Hunter virus cases. He mentioned 10 reported cases. As of now, uh, in the latest disease outbreak news, there were 11 cases. Can you just briefly explain what happened to that 11th case? Thank you.

[01:11:40]>> Yes, thank you very much. So in the 11 cases that we had reported in the disease outbreak news that included one uh individual who who had an inconclusive test and that was someone from the United States and since then we've had further confirmation from the United States that that uh person was negative. So we've we've changed the case count from 11 to 10.

[01:12:04]>> Thank you very much Dr. Vanov. With this we will conclude this uh press briefing.

[01:12:11]Uh as always we will send you uh recording audio and video recording uh uh during the during the evening if you have any other questions. There were a couple of other questions that came in in writing that we were not be able we were not able to take but please uh contact us at media at whintt with any questions you may have and we will try uh to answer and I give the floor to Dr. Ted for his closing remarks.

[01:12:37]>> Yeah, thank you. Thank you T. Thank you to all members of the press for joining us today and see you next time.