World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Tuesday “our work is not over” to contain hantavirus after evacuations from a cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak of the illness.
The fate of the MV Hondius has sparked international alarm after three passengers died in an outbreak of the rare virus, for which no vaccines or specific treatments exist. Yet health officials have stressed that the global public health risk is low and rejected comparisons to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,” Tedros told a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid after overseeing the evacuation in Spain’s Canary Islands.
“But of course, the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks,” Tedros said of the Andes variant, which is transmissible between humans.
