An outbreak of hantavirus on board a cruise ship is not the start of a pandemic, the UN health agency has said.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the World Health Organization (WHO), told a news briefing that it was not the same situation as six years ago with Covid-19, because hantavirus spreads through “close, intimate contact”.
Health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius.
On Thursday, the WHO said that overall, five of eight suspected cases of hantavirus had been confirmed. Three people have died, including a 69-year-old Dutch woman, who had the virus.
Her Dutch husband and a German woman also died, and their cases are being investigated.
Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents – but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.
The luxury cruise, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on 1 April in Ushuaia, Argentina, and is expected to arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands on 10 May.
About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries are reported to have initially been aboard the vessel, but dozens disembarked on the island of St Helena on 24 April.
