He director general of the WHO He declared this Wednesday to AFP that he does not believe that deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise shipwhich has raised international alarm, is similar to that at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic.
The MV Hondius cruise ship has been at the center of an international alert since Saturday, when the World Health Organization was informed that three passengers had died amid suspicions of a hantavirus outbreak on board.
YOU CAN SEE: The three infected with hantavirus on the cruise ship will be evacuated to the Netherlands
The Dutch-flagged ship set sail from Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 for a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. remains anchored off Cape Verde since Sunday.
This rare disease is usually transmitted through infected rodents, usually through urine, feces or saliva, but the Andes strain, confirmed in three cases, can be transmitted between humans.
Speaking to AFP at WHO headquarters in Geneva, the organization’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, downplayed the danger, insisting that “the risk to the rest of the world is low.”
A patient suspected of having hantavirus is evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship to receive medical care in the Netherlands. (@DrTedros / X / WHO).
When asked if the WHO considers that they are similar situations, he responded: “No, I don’t think so.”
Although there have been “multiple meetings to coordinate our partners and organize a response,” he said that for now he does not see the need to call an emergency committee meeting on the hantavirus situation.
However, Tedros highlighted the rapid response and, in particular, the efforts to ensure the evacuation of three people believed to be infected with the virus from the cruise ship.
