Overview
- WHO confirmed Friday that six people linked to the MV Hondius have tested positive for hantavirus, including three who died, with lab results identifying the Andes strain.
- The ship is due to reach Tenerife on Sunday, where Spain will move passengers to a completely cordoned area using small boats and guarded buses before repatriation flights depart.
- Oceanwide Expeditions says no one on board currently has symptoms, and several countries are arranging dedicated returns, including a U.S. flight to a quarantine unit in Omaha and a UK charter for 22 Britons.
- Health agencies are tracing more than two dozen people who left the ship on April 24, with suspected cases under review in Spain and Tristan da Cunha, as a KLM flight attendant tested negative after brief contact with an infected passenger.
- Researchers at the University of Bath report a promising vaccine candidate using mRNA and a silica ‘ensilication’ method, which has shown strong immune responses in animals and is being readied for early human trials.