Cruise ship hantavirus outbreak not start of pandemic: WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that the deadly hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MV Hondius in the Atlantic did not mark the beginning of a COVID-like pandemic, reported Xinhua.

"This is not the start of a pandemic," said Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's chief of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention. She stressed at a press conference in Geneva: "This is not COVID."

"This is not the same situation we were in six years ago. It doesn't spread the same way coronavirus does. It's very different," she said.

"Most hantavirus don't transmit between people at all," as it is mainly transmitted to people from rodents, through their feces, saliva, or droppings, she noted.

Meanwhile, two of the three individuals evacuated from Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius have tested positive for hantavirus in the Netherlands, Dutch medical institutions confirmed on Thursday.

The Dutch Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) said one individual admitted in Radboud University Medical Center has been diagnosed with hantavirus.

"Appropriate isolation measures have been taken in the ward where the patient is admitted to prevent spread, in accordance with internationally agreed protocols," Radboud University Medical Center, located in Dutch eastern city of Nijmegen, said in a statement.

Later, Leiden University Medical Center confirmed that another evacuated passenger from the vessel has also tested positive for hantavirus.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday that three suspected hantavirus patients had been evacuated from the ship and transported to the Netherlands for further medical treatment following the outbreak aboard the cruise ship.

KLM flight attendant hospitalized as suspected hantavirus case

A KLM flight attendant has been hospitalized with a possible hantavirus infection, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport confirmed on Thursday, reported Xinhua.

Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported that the flight attendant is experiencing mild symptoms and currently in isolation at Amsterdam University Medical Centers, where she is undergoing testing.

The flight attendant had been in contact with the Dutch woman who died of hantavirus in Johannesburg on April 26. A day before her death, the woman briefly boarded a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam, but the crew ultimately decided not to allow her to travel because of her medical condition.