90-Second Read: WHO director says he will personally oversee Hantavirus cruise evacuation

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he will personally oversee the painstaking process of evacuating more than 100 people from a cruise ship dealing with an outbreak of the rare and deadly Hantavirus. Eight people on the ship had confirmed or suspected cases of the Hantavirus and three people have died, the WHO said on Friday. But I need you to hear me clearly: this is not another COVID." "The current public health risk from Hantavirus remains low," he continued. Updated on: May 9, 2026 / 10:55 AM EDT / CBS News World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Each country with passengers on board the ship will proceed with a similar evacuation to awaiting planes, according to the Spanish Health Ministry.

My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now." The ship left Argentina on April 1 for a cruise stopping at several remote islands in the south Atlantic, including Tristan da Cunha and Saint Helena, both British territories. The outbreak on the ship appears to have started with a Dutch couple who traveled around South America, the only place the Andes strain exists, in the months leading up to the cruise. The couple spent time bird-watching in areas where rodents are known to have tested positive for Hantavirus, according to Oceanwide Expeditions. There are 17 Americans on the MV Hondius, according to Oceanwide Expeditions, who will be taken off the ship in a small boat, taken to shore and immediately to a.

I will be there myself," Tedros said in a letter addressed to the people of the Canary Islands, where the ship will anchor off the coast of its largest island, Tenerife. None of the 147 people currently on board, including 60 crew members, are symptomatic, according to Oceanwide Expeditions, which owns the vessel. I'm sure they're very anxious to get home, but (we need) to make sure they do that in the most safe way possible," Maria van Kerkhove, WHO's acting director of the Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, said at a press conference on Saturday. However, health experts say the chances of widespread transmission is very small. The MV Hondius is expected to reach the Canary Islands early Sunday.

However, testing of those who were sickened on the Hondius has confirmed they have the Andes strain of the virus, the only variation that can be transmitted through close contact with a sick individual. I know that when you hear the word 'outbreak' and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest," Tedros said in the letter. Passengers are set to be carefully removed hours after docking. The disease is usually acquired through close contact with rodents, and not transmissable from person to person. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment.