WHO: Cruise ship hantavirus outbreak not a pandemic threat
The World Health Organization (WHO) has reassured the public that the recent hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship in the Atlantic does not signal the start of a pandemic, Qazinform News Agency cites Xinhua.
WHO's chief of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention Maria Van Kerkhove stated: “This is not the start of a pandemic. This is not COVID.”
She emphasized that the situation is very different from the coronavirus outbreak, noting that hantaviruses do not spread in the same way.
Most hantaviruses are not transmitted between humans, as they are primarily spread from rodents through contact with feces, saliva, or droppings.
Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that five of the eight reported cases from the cruise ship MV Hondius are infections caused by hantavirus.