WHO predicts limited hantavirus outbreak following cruise ship deaths

The World Health Organization said Thursday that more cases of the hantavirus could emerge but expected the outbreak to be “limited” if precautions are taken, after the disease killed three passengers from a cruise ship.

Another sick passenger from the MV Hondius landed in Europe earlier in the day, as the vessel headed to a Spanish island and health officials scrambled to map the outbreak of the potentially deadly human-to-human strain.

The fate of the Hondius sparked international alarm after three people travelling on it died, though health officials have played down fears of a wider global outbreak from the rat-borne virus, which is less contagious than Covid-19.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists in Geneva that five confirmed and three suspected cases had been reported overall, including the three deaths.

“Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it’s possible that