Hantavirus risk to public is low, says WHO after outbreak hits ship

Amid concerns, the WHO Europe has said the suspected outbreak of hantavirus presents a low risk to the public.

"The risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions," the World Health Organization's director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement, AFP reported. Kluge added that hantavirus infections were "uncommon and usually linked to exposure to infected rodents"

In its first statement on the crisis, the vessel's operator Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed three deaths on board the MV Hondius, travelling across from Ushuaia in Argentina to Cape Verde off the coast of west Africa.