The world is not facing another Covid-19 pandemic despite more ‘possible’ hantavirus cases from a Dutch cruise ship, said the World Health Organization (WHO), while Europe scrambles to contain the rodent-borne disease.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday there were now five confirmed hantavirus cases from the outbreak, with three more suspected.

“It’s possible that more cases may be reported,” Tedros said, citing the six-week incubation period of the Andes virus. He added that he expects the outbreak will remain “limited” if public health authorities move swiftly and in solidarity.

So far, European authorities have dispatched infected or potentially infected passengers to several locations, including University Hospital Zurich, Leiden University Medical Centre, and University Hospital in Düsseldorf.

Still, there are about 150 passengers on board the ship, which departed from Ushuaia, Argentina, in early April for a transatlantic voyage to Cape Verde. According to authorities, some passengers were exposed to the Andes strain of the virus while travelling in Argentina before embarking and may subsequently have transmitted it to other passengers on board.

The main risk, according to WHO official Maria Van Kerkhove, is now to people on the ship and their close contacts, including medical staff. She assured reporters in Geneva that “this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently.”

The WHO confirmed that they had sent around 2,500 diagnostic tests to five countries and was in regular contact with regional authorities.

An unusual scenario

The EU’s disease agency, the ECDC, has sent one of its resident experts to the ship, but most of the bloc’s response has so far been handled by national governments.

“They are doing the right things,” Leirs said about European authorities’ public response so far, adding that no existing medical countermeasures for the virus exist.

An EU official confirmed on Thursday that Spain had requested to activate the bloc’s civil protection mechanism in response to the outbreak.

“We are remaining vigilant,” the spokesperson said, adding that authorities were working in close coordination with all affected governments, the WHO and the ECDC to ensure a “swift and effective response at every stage.”

The handling of the virus has led to a clash between Spain’s central government and authorities in the Canary Islands. For her part, Spain’s Health Minister Mónica García said on Thursday she would not “waste a single minute on political noise.”

The vessel is now about to anchor in Tenerife, where passengers are supposed to be evacuated by motorboat.

WHO officials said they are currently developing a “step-by-step” guide for handling passengers upon arrival.

(bms, aw)