WHO chief tells AFP hantavirus outbreak not like start of Covid

Ambulances allegedly carrying some of the passengers from the cruise ship MV Hondius believed to be infected with hantavirus, are escorted by police motorcycles as they leave Schiphol airport, near Amsterdam. Photo / Lina Selg, AFP

The WHO chief says he does not believe a deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, which has sparked international alarm, has similarities with the start of the Covid pandemic.

The MV Hondius has been at the centre of an international alert since Saturday, when the World Health Organisation was informed that three passengers had died amid suspicions of a hantavirus outbreak aboard.

The rare disease is usually spread from infected rodents, typically through urine, droppings and saliva, but the Andes strain, which has now been confirmed in three cases, is transmissible between humans.

Speaking to AFP at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, the UN health agency’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus downplayed the danger, insisting that “the risk to the rest of the world is low”.

And when asked if the WHO saw similarities with the emergency at the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, he said: “No, I don’t think so”.

While there had been “multiple meetings to coordinate our partners and to respond”, he said that so far he did not see the need to call an emergency committee meeting on the hantavirus situation.

Nonetheless, Tedros described a scramble to respond, and in particular to ensure the evacuation of three people believed to be infected with the virus from the cruise ship, which has been anchored off Cape Verde since Sunday.

“Three of the patients have been evacuated just a couple of hours ago,” Tedros said, acknowledging that his team had had “a bit of a sleepless night because we have been preparing for this evacuation”.

The three are on their way to the Netherlands while the Hondius is expected to soon set sail for Spain’s Canary Islands.

“From there, of course, the rest of the passengers will move to their respective countries,” he said.

The WHO chief said medics had joined the ship, including staff from his agency, adding that “we will continue to monitor and support the people in the ship, and also monitor the situation outside”.

“We’re trying to do our best.”

- AFP