A Dutch infectious disease expert says the hantavirus affecting passengers on the MV Hondius cruise ship is far less transmissible than Covid-19.

This assessment comes as health authorities manage an outbreak involving the Andes strain of the virus, which has raised concerns about person-to-person transmission in confined spaces.

Karin Ellen Veldkamp, head of infectious diseases at Leiden University Medical Centre, is currently treating a patient from the vessel in the Netherlands. Veldkamp said the risk of spread is lower than that of the pandemic-era coronavirus during a video interview.

"It's nothing like Covid, no. It's much harder to transmit," Veldkamp said.

The outbreak has centered on the MV Hondius while sailing in the Atlantic near the Canary Islands. Five confirmed cases of hantavirus have been reported on the ship [1]. The situation prompted local authorities to restrict the vessel's movement. Fernando Clavijo said he could not allow the boat to enter the Canaries [3].

While Veldkamp emphasized the difficulty of transmission, other health organizations have highlighted the specific risks of this variant. A spokesperson for the World Health Organization said the Andes strain of hantavirus can be transmitted from person to person [6].

Public health officials are continuing to monitor the situation as the scale of exposure becomes clearer. Currently, 62 people are feared to have been exposed to the Andes strain [5]. The investigation aims to determine how the virus entered the ship's population and whether the confined environment of a cruise ship increases the likelihood of further cases.

Medical teams in the Netherlands and other affected regions are coordinating to treat those infected and track potential secondary transmissions. The Andes strain is noted for its ability to spread between humans, a trait not shared by all hantavirus strains, which typically spread via rodent droppings.

“"It's nothing like Covid, no. It's much harder to transmit."”

The conflicting assessments between the treating physician and the WHO highlight a critical tension in public health: the difference between general transmissibility and the specific potential for person-to-person spread. While the virus may not possess the explosive contagion rate of Covid-19, the confirmation that the Andes strain can move between humans makes the cruise ship environment a high-risk scenario for localized clusters.