00:00A deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship is triggering memories of 2020.
00:05But while three passengers have died and the Hondias is anchored off the Canary Islands,
00:10health officials say this isn't the next pandemic.
00:14The World Health Organization is monitoring a cluster of cases linked to a voyage on the polar expedition vessel.
00:20At least six people are confirmed to have been infected.
00:23The Dutch flagship has become a floating petri dish, with scientists racing to understand how it's spread
00:31and to track passengers across three continents.
00:35Andy's hantavirus, identified in some patients, is the only strain associated with limited transmission among close contacts.
00:44Scientists say it's less adept at mutating, and WHO officials say the risk of wider spread remains low,
00:51as hantaviruses don't transmit easily between people, unlike flu and the virus that causes COVID-19.
00:59The challenge is timing.
01:02Symptoms can take up to six or seven weeks to appear,
01:06meaning travellers may move between countries before they know they're sick,
01:10complicating efforts to trace contacts and to contain the outbreak.
01:14For the cruise industry, it highlights how illness can emerge during long voyages, far from advanced care.
01:23More broadly, it shows how infections can move across borders before they're detected,
01:28even when the overall risk remains low.
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