WHO says that hantavirus outbreak is ‘not Covid’

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The World Health Organization has insisted that the hantavirus outbreak is not comparable to the start of the Covid pandemic and continues to say the public health risk is low. Although the outbreak is thought to be largely contained to the MV Hondius, at least 29 passengers, including seven British citizens, left the cruise ship on 24 April after the first fatality. As the disease has a long incubation period, passengers who disembarked have been asked to self-isolate for 45 days. Although the Dutch health ministry said a woman who had not been on the ship was being tested for hantavirus, the UK Health Security Agency said the risk to the broader public is “really negligible”. The outbreak has been linked to a birdwatching expedition at an Argentinian landfill.