The World Health Organisation (WHO) has moved to calm fears of a new global health crisis after a deadly hantavirus outbreak linked to the cruise ship MV Hondius, insisting the situation is “not Covid” and does not pose pandemic-level risk despite new suspected cases continuing to emerge.
The reassurance came during a WHO media briefing led by Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who confirmed that while further infections linked to the ship remain possible due to the long incubation period of the virus, health authorities do not believe the outbreak represents the beginning of a Covid-style global emergency.
The outbreak centres on the Dutch-flagged expedition cruise ship, which has been travelling from Argentina to the Canary Islands via Cape Verde and several remote Atlantic islands. The vessel is expected to dock in Tenerife within days after being granted permission to enter the Canaries despite growing concern among some local residents.
According to the WHO, a cluster of passengers suffering from severe respiratory illness was first reported on May 2. By May 4, seven cases had been identified, including three deaths.
Officials now say there are eight reported cases, with five confirmed infections and three suspected cases linked to the Andes virus, a rare strain of hantavirus capable of limited human-to-human transmission.
Dr Tedros warned that more infections could still emerge over the coming weeks.
“Given the incubation period for Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it’s possible that more cases may be reported,” he said.
“WHO is aware of reports of other people with symptoms who may have had contact with one of the passengers. In each case, we are in close contact with the relevant authorities.
Given the incubation period for Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it’s possible that more…
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 7, 2026
However, WHO officials repeatedly stressed that the outbreak differs dramatically from the emergence of coronavirus in 2020.
Speaking during the same briefing, WHO infectious disease epidemiologist Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said: “This is not coronavirus. This is a very different virus. We know this virus. Hantaviruses have been around for quite a while.”
She added: “I want to be unequivocal here: This is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a Covid pandemic.”
Officials explained that while the Andes virus is unusual among hantaviruses because limited person-to-person transmission has been documented, spread generally requires extremely close and prolonged contact.
“It’s that close, intimate contact that we’ve seen,” Dr Van Kerkhove said. “Most hantaviruses do not transmit between people at all.”
The WHO described the outbreak as a “serious incident” but assessed the wider public health risk as “low”.
“While this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the public health risk as low.
It also shows why the International Health Regulations exist, and how they work.
WHO is working with multiple governments and partners on the response, under those Regulations.
Our priorities are to…
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 7, 2026
The outbreak has nevertheless triggered a large-scale international health response involving authorities across Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.
The first known patient was reportedly a man who developed symptoms on April 6 while onboard the MV Hondius and died aboard the ship on April 11. Because his symptoms resembled other respiratory illnesses, hantavirus was not initially suspected and no samples were taken.
The man’s wife later became ill after leaving the vessel when it docked at Saint Helena. She deteriorated during a flight to Johannesburg on April 25 and died the following day. Tests later confirmed hantavirus infection.
A third passenger, a German woman, developed symptoms on April 28 and died on May 2.
Another patient was medically evacuated from Ascension Island to South Africa, where he remains in intensive care, although WHO officials said Friday that his condition had improved.
Three additional passengers were evacuated to the Netherlands, where two remain stable in hospital while another asymptomatic passenger has since travelled to Germany.
The eighth confirmed case involves a man who disembarked at Saint Helena before later testing positive in Zurich, Switzerland. Swiss authorities later sequenced the virus and confirmed it as the Andes strain.
Health agencies are now scrambling to trace passengers and close contacts across multiple countries after more than two dozen people left the ship at Saint Helena before travelling onward to several continents.
Officials in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Singapore and the United States are among those monitoring potentially exposed individuals.
Britain’s UK Health Security Agency confirmed Friday that an additional suspected case involving a British national on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha had been identified.
The agency said two British nationals have already tested positive as part of its ongoing monitoring operation.
Seven British passengers left the ship on April 24 at Saint Helena. According to UK officials, two are currently isolating in Britain, four remain in Saint Helena and one has been traced elsewhere overseas.
Attention has also focused on possible secondary contacts, including airline staff who may have interacted with infected passengers. A Dutch KLM flight attendant who had contact with the Dutch woman before her death was later tested and found negative for infection, according to the WHO.
Irish health authorities are also preparing for the ship’s arrival in Tenerife, with the HSE National Health Protection Office (NHPO) confirming that two Irish passengers remain aboard the vessel.
The HSE said neither Irish passenger has shown symptoms.
However, Irish authorities confirmed they are preparing quarantine and monitoring plans once passengers disembark.
A HSE spokesperson said passengers would receive “optimal patient care and safety” and that all measures were being taken to protect public health.
The spokesperson added that self-isolation would be required “for a period”, although Ireland has not yet confirmed a specific quarantine duration. Britain has indicated passengers returning there may be asked to isolate for up to 45 days.
The HSE also confirmed that the National Incident Management Team has been activated to coordinate Ireland’s response.
Speaking earlier this week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Government would do everything possible to help bring Irish citizens home safely.
“We have a duty of care to our citizens, we want our citizens to come back in a safe way, and we will do everything possible to facilitate that,” he said.
The outbreak has inevitably drawn comparisons with the early days of Covid-19, particularly given the role cruise ships played during the coronavirus pandemic. However, experts say the biological characteristics of the Andes virus make widespread global transmission highly unlikely.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said human-to-human spread requires prolonged close contact and noted that the current theory is that some passengers were originally exposed in Argentina before boarding the ship.
“Meanwhile, investigations into the cause of the outbreak are continuing.
Prior to boarding the ship, the first two cases had travelled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip, which included visits to sites where the species of rat that is known to carry…
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 7, 2026
WHO officials also revealed that the first infected couple had recently travelled through several South American bird-watching locations where rodents known to carry the Andes virus are commonly found.
Medical experts say hantavirus infections can become severe rapidly, leading to pneumonia, respiratory distress and shock. The Andes virus causes Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), which carries a high fatality rate.
Still, experts stress it remains far less transmissible than coronavirus.
Dr Kristen Panthagani, an emergency medicine physician and researcher, noted that Covid became a pandemic because it combined efficient transmission with a comparatively lower mortality rate.
“The characteristics of the virus – high mortality rate, inefficient human-to-human transmission – make pandemic potential very low,” she wrote.
For now, WHO officials say the priority remains isolating symptomatic passengers, tracing contacts and safely disembarking those still aboard the MV Hondius once the ship reaches the Canary Islands.
