Hong Kong seeks more details from WHO on hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship

Health authorities say they are taking a ‘proactive and precautionary’ approach to safeguarding city despite low global health risk

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 departed from Argentina on April 1.

Three people have died in the outbreak aboard the vessel. Five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases have now been confirmed, according to the WHO.

As of Wednesday, the cluster comprised three confirmed cases and another five suspected patients.

The department noted that the first patient in the cluster only showed symptoms on April 6.

“Further laboratory testing showed that the hantaviruses in two of the confirmed cases belonged to the Andes genotype, which is currently the only type of hantaviruses confirmed to have limited human-to-human transmission,” it said.