World Health Organization epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said Thursday that the current hantavirus outbreak onboard the MV Hondius is not the same as the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I want to be unequivocal here. This is not SARS-CoV-2. This is not the start of a COVID pandemic,” Van Kerkhove said. “This is an outbreak that we see on a ship.”
WHO epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention chief Maria Van Kerkhove speaking regarding hantavirus cases at the WHO heaquarters in Geneva, May 4, 2026.
World Health Organization/AFP via Getty Images
Van Kerkhove further noted that hantavirus doesn’t spread in the same way coronaviruses do, but rather requires “close, intimate contact.”
Anais Legand with the WHO said that a ship makes “a very specific environment” for transmission, but that there was no indication that there is something unusual about the virus.
-ABC News’ Joseph Simonetti and Zoe Magee
