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Hantavirus live updates: 2 infected patients in isolation in Dutch hospitals, officials say

"This is not the start of a COVID pandemic," a WHO official said.

ByChristopher Watson and Ivan Pereira
Last Updated: May 7, 2026, 2:28 PM EDT

Global health authorities are working to contain an outbreak of hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.

The total number of confirmed cases associated with the outbreak is increasing, health officials said. To date, three people who were aboard the ship are known to have died of the virus.

More than 100 passengers remain on the ship, and the World Health Organization is monitoring their health. Officials said that the "overall public health risk remains low" but that there may be some person-to-person spread.

Health officials in multiple states say they're monitoring some passengers who have returned to the U.S. after being aboard the ship for potential hantavirus infections.

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'This is not the start of a COVID pandemic': WHO official

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."

PHOTO: Director of epidemic and pandemic management and US infectious disease epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove speaking during a virtual press conference on the hantavirus cluster at the WHO headquarters, in Geneva, May 7, 2026.
Director of epidemic and pandemic management and US infectious disease epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove speaking during a virtual press conference on the hantavirus cluster linked to a cruise ship travel, at the WHO headquarters, in Geneva, May 7, 2026.
Christopher Black/WHO/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

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