GENEVA: The World Health Organization said Friday that the risk to the public of a deadly hantavirus strain in a cruise ship outbreak was minimal, as it spreads only through "very close contact".

"This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who's really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low," WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a press briefing in Geneva.

He pointed out that even people who had stayed in the same cabins on the stricken MV Hondius cruise ship "don't seem to be both infected in some cases".

The spokesman insisted that the disease was "not spreading anything close to how Covid was spreading".

"The contact tracing is effective because it traces those who have been in close contact," he said.

The ship left Ushuaia on the southern tip of Argentina on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde, stopping at several remote islands along the way.

Articles tagged with "Christian Lindmeier"

Hantavirus outbreak risk to public 'absolutely low': WHO