https://www.scmp.com/rss/525656/feed According to the Centre for Health Protection, Hantavirus (Orthohantavirus) is an infectious disease that is mainly transmitted through direct contact with the faeces, saliva or urine of infected rodents or by inhalation of the virus in their aerosolised excreta. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com SCMP Editorial SCMP Editorial The recent hantavirus outbreak on a small cruise ship was a reminder of the hidden threats posed by deadly pathogens. Little did we know that at the same time, an outbreak of a strain of the highly fatal Ebola viral disease may have been circulating undetected for several weeks in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa. It is now reported to have killed at least 136, with hundreds of infections or suspected cases. Early detection of deadly viruses is difficult in regions... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/comment/article/3354252/despite-low-risk-ebola-hong-kong-vigilant-and-prepared?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/comment/article/3354252/despite-low-risk-ebola-hong-kong-vigilant-and-prepared?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 May 2026 23:15:10 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press One of four Canadians who returned home from a cruise ship where there was a hantavirus outbreak received a “presumptive positive” test result for the virus, Canadian officials said on Saturday. Results from the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg to confirm the case are expected to come over the weekend, said Bonnie Henry, the public health officer for the province of British Columbia. “Clearly this is not what we hoped for, but it is what we planned for,” Henry said. The person, one member... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3353845/canadian-cruise-passenger-gets-presumptive-positive-hantavirus-test-result?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3353845/canadian-cruise-passenger-gets-presumptive-positive-hantavirus-test-result?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 May 2026 22:22:15 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse France’s health minister said on Thursday that 26 people in France identified as close contacts of hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship had tested negative for the illness. Dutch authorities said that all people who arrived in the Netherlands on evacuation flights from the ship this week have also tested negative. Twenty-six people are in hospital isolation in France, including 22 identified as close contacts of a Dutch woman on the MV Hondius that was at the centre of an... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353595/france-netherlands-say-all-hantavirus-contact-cases-negative?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353595/france-netherlands-say-all-hantavirus-contact-cases-negative?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 14 May 2026 12:27:52 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse French authorities on Wednesday allowed asymptomatic passengers to leave a British cruise ship, saying a gastrointestinal virus was behind an outbreak of sickness that came after an elderly man died of a heart attack. Earlier, authorities had ordered a lockdown for the more than 1,700 passengers and crew on the vessel, but insisted there was no connection with the hantavirus outbreak suspected of killing three people on the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius cruise ship, which has sparked international... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353462/france-locks-down-1700-cruise-ship-after-90-year-old-dies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353462/france-locks-down-1700-cruise-ship-after-90-year-old-dies?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 May 2026 12:47:26 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Argentina’s city “at the end of the world” Ushuaia, the jump-off point for expeditions to the Antarctic, has been labouring under suspicion of being the source of the deadly hantavirus outbreak that killed three cruise ship passengers. The MV Hondius set sail from this spectacular Patagonian port, sandwiched between snow-capped mountains and the South Atlantic, on April 1. Five days later, a Dutch man who had travelled through South America on a birdwatching trip with his wife, developed... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3353371/argentine-city-tries-shrug-hantavirus-ship-patient-zero-suspicions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3353371/argentine-city-tries-shrug-hantavirus-ship-patient-zero-suspicions?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 May 2026 04:48:40 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press A French woman infected in the deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship is critically ill and being treated with an artificial lung, a doctor at the Paris hospital caring for the sickened passenger said on Tuesday. The outbreak has now reached 11 total reported cases, nine of which have been confirmed. Three people on the cruise died, including a Dutch couple that health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America. The French passenger hospitalised in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353337/french-hantavirus-patient-critically-ill-put-artificial-lung?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353337/french-hantavirus-patient-critically-ill-put-artificial-lung?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 May 2026 21:21:47 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press A Spanish passenger evacuated from the cruise ship at the centre of a hantavirus outbreak has tested positive for the virus, Spain’s health ministry announced on Tuesday as the World Health Organization said it has now confirmed 11 cases, including three people from the cruise who died. The passenger with the new confirmed case of hantavirus was in quarantine in a military hospital in Madrid, where 13 other Spanish nationals evacuated on Sunday – who all tested negative for the virus – also are... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353299/spain-reports-new-hantavirus-case-outbreak-grows-11?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353299/spain-reports-new-hantavirus-case-outbreak-grows-11?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 May 2026 11:35:01 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse A French woman and an American national evacuated from the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have tested positive, officials said on Monday, as the complex operation to repatriate those on board continued. The French woman, one of five passengers from France flown back from the MV Hondius and placed in isolation in Paris, started to feel unwell on Sunday night, and “tests came back positive”, said Health Minister Stephanie Rist. One of 17 American passengers repatriated from the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353143/more-passengers-hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship-test-positive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353143/more-passengers-hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship-test-positive?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 May 2026 08:47:20 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse One of five French people flown back to France on Sunday from the cruise ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak is showing symptoms of the illness, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said. “On of them showed symptoms in the repatriation plane,” he posted on social media. “These five passengers have immediately been placed in strict isolation until further notice. “They are getting medical treatment and will have tests and a medical check-up,” he added. Lecornu also said he would issue... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353069/french-evacuee-hantavirus-hit-ship-shows-symptoms-pm-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353069/french-evacuee-hantavirus-hit-ship-shows-symptoms-pm-says?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 May 2026 16:57:56 +0000 The Star The Star Malaysia has ramped up health screenings at all international entry points, particularly in the maritime sector, to prevent hantavirus from entering the country, according to Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad. Dzulkefly assured the public that as of Sunday, there have been zero hantavirus cases reported in Malaysia or involving Malaysians, noting that the six lab-confirmed cases recently highlighted were all reported abroad. However, he stressed that the country must remain vigilant against the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3353033/malaysia-tightens-border-screenings-prevent-hantavirus-entry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3353033/malaysia-tightens-border-screenings-prevent-hantavirus-entry?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 May 2026 07:45:33 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse The first plane carrying passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship left Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday for Madrid, where they will be taken to a military hospital. Spanish nationals were the first to leave the MV Hondius, which remains anchored off Tenerife, the largest island in the Spanish archipelago off the coast of West Africa. The ship arrived hours earlier. None of the more than 140 people on the Hondius have shown symptoms of the virus, Spain’s health ministry, the World Health... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353021/hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship-nears-canary-islands-who-led-evacuation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353021/hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship-nears-canary-islands-who-led-evacuation?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 May 2026 01:59:18 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse UK health authorities are gearing up to receive about 24 people from a virus-hit cruise ship, who will be isolated in a hospital once used for Covid-19 patients, NHS officials said Saturday. They are currently on board the Dutch ship, the MV Hondius, due to anchor off Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday. Most of the nearly 150 people on board will be evacuated and flown home to their home countries after weeks at sea, in a carefully prepared repatriation effort. Among them are about 24 British... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353018/hantavirus-outbreak-uk-isolate-cruise-ship-passengers-ex-covid-hospital?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3353018/hantavirus-outbreak-uk-isolate-cruise-ship-passengers-ex-covid-hospital?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 May 2026 17:15:25 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Two Singapore residents who had been on board a hantavirus-hit cruise ship have tested negative to the rare respiratory disease, according to Singapore’s Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA). The two men aged 65 and 67 had been on the MV Hondius and also the same flight as a confirmed hantavirus case from St Helena to Johannesburg on April 25, the CDA said a day earlier. The confirmed case did not travel to the city state and died in South Africa. The CDA’s National Public Health Laboratory... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3352968/singapore-pair-test-negative-hantavirus-after-cruise-ship-outbreak?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3352968/singapore-pair-test-negative-hantavirus-after-cruise-ship-outbreak?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 May 2026 01:39:48 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse There is an “almost zero” chance that the Dutch man linked to the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship contracted the disease in the Argentine port of Ushuaia, a provincial health official said on Friday. Juan Petrina, director of epidemiology for Tierra del Fuego province, where Ushuaia is located, told reporters that his assessment was based on the virus’s incubation period, among other factors. The Dutch man and his wife, both of whom died of the virus, boarded the Hondius in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3352964/almost-zero-chance-dutch-man-got-hantavirus-argentinas-ushuaia-official-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3352964/almost-zero-chance-dutch-man-got-hantavirus-argentinas-ushuaia-official-says?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 May 2026 21:05:29 +0000 Reuters Reuters Two new suspected cases of hantavirus were ⁠reported on Friday, one in Spain and the other on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, as experts race to contain an outbreak that began on a luxury cruise ship. The announcements in locations thousands of kilometres apart will fuel concern about a cluster of cases so far associated with three deaths, although the World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly said the risk to the wider public is low and the virus does not transmit... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3352958/new-suspected-hantavirus-cases-found-spain-and-remote-tristan-da-cunha?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3352958/new-suspected-hantavirus-cases-found-spain-and-remote-tristan-da-cunha?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 May 2026 16:59:09 +0000 Agence France-Presse,Associated Press Agence France-Presse,Associated Press Passengers aboard a cruise ship affected by a deadly hantavirus outbreak will start being flown to their countries of origin after the vessel arrives in the Canary Islands on Sunday, the Spanish government said on Friday. The MV Hondius is scheduled to reach the port of Granadilla on the island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, on Sunday morning, cabinet minister Angel Victor Torres told journalists. “That same day, we will have planes available and will be able to start getting these... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3352939/spain-repatriate-guests-hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship-heads-canaries?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3352939/spain-repatriate-guests-hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship-heads-canaries?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 May 2026 12:06:25 +0000 Ushar Daniele Ushar Daniele The risk of a hantavirus outbreak in Asia remains minimal, according to health experts, despite two Singapore residents returning home from a cruise ship where three people died from the infection that triggered a regional panic. Hantaviruses are a family of rat-carried viruses that can infect humans through direct exposure, even though transmission between people is extremely rare. The virus takes its name from South Korea’s Hantan River, where an early strain was identified after outbreaks of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3352870/asia-faces-low-hantavirus-risk-singapore-isolates-2-cruise-over-cases?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3352870/asia-faces-low-hantavirus-risk-singapore-isolates-2-cruise-over-cases?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 May 2026 07:49:36 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse The World Health Organization insisted on Thursday that a deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic did not mark the beginning of a Covid-like crisis. “This is not the start of an epidemic. This is not the start of a pandemic,” WHO epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director Maria Van Kerkhove told reporters, insisting: “This is not Covid.” The WHO also said it expected the outbreak on the MV Hondius, currently sailing from Cabo Verde (formerly known as Cape... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3352806/who-says-cruise-ship-hantavirus-outbreak-not-start-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3352806/who-says-cruise-ship-hantavirus-outbreak-not-start-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 May 2026 15:08:39 +0000 Oscar Liu Oscar Liu Hong Kong health authorities are seeking more information from the World Health Organization (WHO) on an outbreak of a deadly hantavirus strain capable of limited human-to-human transmission reported on a cruise ship in the Atlantic, while ramping up efforts to prevent the rare disease from reaching the city’s shores. The Department of Health’s Centre for Health Protection revealed on Thursday that it had contacted the WHO about the hantavirus cluster found on the MV Hondius after the vessel... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3352801/hong-kong-seeks-more-details-who-hantavirus-outbreak-cruise-ship?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3352801/hong-kong-seeks-more-details-who-hantavirus-outbreak-cruise-ship?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 May 2026 14:03:26 +0000 Reuters Reuters Countries worldwide scrambled on Thursday to trace people who had left the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak before it got marooned off the coast of Cabo Verde, to prevent further spread of the disease. Three people – a Dutch couple and a German national – died in the outbreak on the MV Hondius. Five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases have now been confirmed, according to the World Health Organization. The vessel’s operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said 29 passengers left the ship on... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3352775/nations-race-track-passengers-hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3352775/nations-race-track-passengers-hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 May 2026 10:53:42 +0000 CNA CNA Two Singapore residents who were on board the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius are currently being isolated at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), where they are being tested for the virus. “Their test results are pending. One has a runny nose but is otherwise well, and the other is asymptomatic. The risk to the general public in Singapore is currently low,” the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said on Thursday. CDA said it was notified on Monday and Tuesday that the... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3352771/singapore-isolates-2-residents-linked-mv-hondius-hantavirus-outbreak?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3352771/singapore-isolates-2-residents-linked-mv-hondius-hantavirus-outbreak?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 07 May 2026 10:36:24 +0000 Reuters Reuters It was billed as an Atlantic odyssey to some of the most remote islands in the world. Instead, the cruise on the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius was left stranded off Cabo Verde, formerly known as Cape Verde, with passengers in their cabins, medical workers in protective suits tending to the sick and the ship’s operator seeking a safe port. The outbreak has left three dead and eight confirmed or suspected cases linked to the ‌Dutch-flagged expedition ship. Passengers, some of whom have been... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3352673/passengers-hantavirus-stricken-ship-sway-between-fear-and-boredom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3352673/passengers-hantavirus-stricken-ship-sway-between-fear-and-boredom?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 May 2026 21:00:29 +0000 Reuters Reuters The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that it suspects some rare human-to-human transmission of the deadly hantavirus took place between very close contacts on board a luxury cruise ship hit by seven confirmed or suspected cases. Human-to-human transmission is not common, and the UN health agency reiterated that the risk to the wider public was low from a disease typically spread from contact with infected rodents. A Dutch couple and a German national have died, while a British national... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3352543/deadly-hantavirus-may-have-spread-between-humans-luxury-cruise-risk-low-who?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3352543/deadly-hantavirus-may-have-spread-between-humans-luxury-cruise-risk-low-who?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 May 2026 20:12:38 +0000 Agencies Agencies A hantavirus outbreak tied to a cruise ship off Cabo Verde has grown to seven cases, including two confirmed infections, the World Health Organization said on Monday, with three deaths among those linked to the voyage. The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius is carrying 147 passengers and crew from 23 countries. Among the passengers are 17 Americans, 19 Britons and 13 from Spain. Sixty-one crew members are also on board. Of the seven cases identified, one British passenger in intensive care in Johannesburg... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3352473/deadly-hantavirus-outbreak-traps-150-cruise-ship-who-identifies-more-cases?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3352473/deadly-hantavirus-outbreak-traps-150-cruise-ship-who-identifies-more-cases?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 May 2026 07:28:22 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press A suspected outbreak of the rare hantavirus infection on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean killed three people, including an elderly married couple, and sickened at least three others, the World Health Organization and South Africa’s Department of Health said on Sunday. The WHO said an investigation was under way, but that at least one case of hantavirus had been confirmed. One of the patients was in intensive care in a South African hospital, the UN health agency said, and it was working with... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3352294/3-dead-atlantic-cruise-ship-suspected-hantavirus-outbreak-who?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3352294/3-dead-atlantic-cruise-ship-suspected-hantavirus-outbreak-who?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 May 2026 20:02:56 +0000