Independent surveillance · Editorially reviewed Data last verified: 12 May 2026 · 18:00 UTC
HantaOSINT Global Surveillance
Support Us
Snapshot report This is an archived daily snapshot reflecting the cluster state as reported on 8 May 2026. Case counts have evolved since publication. See the MV Hondius outbreak file for current live state, and the corrections log for any post-publication amendments.
● MV Hondius cluster · Day 7 since WHO notification
Report date: 8 May 2026 Status: Archived snapshot (immutable) Risk: WHO LOW
Dashboard/ Daily Reports/8 May 2026

UKHSA confirms two Britons positive; Swiss genome sequence published; CDC declares Level 3 response

A consolidated 24-hour summary covering events reported between 7 May 06:00 UTC and 8 May 06:00 UTC, the first day of structured HantaOSINT daily tracking.

Compiled from primary sources Editor: Hristo Stanchev Sources cited: 5 Events logged: 6
Confirmed (cumulative)
6
+2 UK · per UKHSA
Suspected / probable
2
+1 UK
Deaths (cumulative)
3
±0 in past 24h
Countries involved
14
monitoring or tracing

What happened on 8 May

The UK Health Security Agency confirmed that two British nationals from the MV Hondius had tested positive for Andes virus by PCR, with one additional suspected case under investigation. The confirmations brought the total cumulative case count to six laboratory-confirmed plus two suspected, per WHO's tracking at that point.

In Switzerland, virologists published a full genome sequence of the virus isolated from a Swiss patient on virological.org (isolate designation ANDV/Switzerland/Hu-3337/2026). Nextstrain phylogenetic pages were established the same day, enabling open phylogenetic comparison with reference Andes virus strains. The US Centers for Disease Control formally classified its response as Level 3 (the second-highest CDC emergency response level), reflecting the multi-country complexity of the event despite WHO's continued assessment of low risk to the global population.

24-hour event log (07 May 06:00 → 08 May 06:00 UTC)

7 May
response

CDC deploys epidemiology team to Canary Islands

US CDC sent a team to meet the cruise ship in the Canary Islands following the vessel's departure from Cape Verde, to assess exposure risk among US passengers and determine appropriate monitoring measures.

Source: CDC HAN 00528 (1 May 2026, updated 8 May)
8 May
confirmed

UKHSA confirms 2 Britons positive for Andes virus

UK Health Security Agency reported two British nationals from MV Hondius confirmed by PCR. One additional suspected case under investigation. Contact tracing continued for the 29 passengers who disembarked at Saint Helena across 12 countries.

Source: UKHSA (via Wikipedia consolidation)
8 May
sequence

Andes virus genome sequenced from Swiss patient, published on virological.org

Full genome of the virus isolated from a Swiss resident published on virological.org with isolate designation ANDV/Switzerland/Hu-3337/2026. Nextstrain phylogenetic pages established same day, enabling open phylogenetic comparison with reference Andes virus strains.

Source: virological.org publication
8 May
response

US CDC Level 3 emergency response activated

CDC classified the multi-country MV Hondius hantavirus cluster as a Level 3 response, the second-highest CDC emergency response level. CDC Emergency Operations Center activated; teams deployed to Canary Islands and to Nebraska to support repatriation.

Source: CDC HAN 00528
8 May
update

WHO Director-General confirms response coordination ahead of Tenerife arrival

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus publicly confirmed plans to travel to Tenerife to lead the WHO response team for the ship's expected 10 May arrival. WHO three-level coordination remained active across all involved IHR Focal Points.

Source: WHO communications via Wikipedia consolidation
8 May
update

Cumulative WHO count: 6 confirmed + 2 suspected (with 2 probable awaiting results)

WHO's running tally per Wikipedia consolidation as of 8 May: 6 confirmed cases, 2 suspected, and 2 additional probable cases awaiting laboratory results. 3 cumulative deaths (2 PCR-confirmed Andes virus, 1 still under investigation).

Source: WHO DON599 + Wikipedia consolidation

Sources cited in this report

  1. WHO DON599, Hantavirus cluster linked to cruise ship travel, Multi-country, 4 May 2026 (corrigendum 5 May). who.int
  2. CDC HAN 00528, 2026 Multi-country Hantavirus Cluster Linked to Cruise Ship, 1 May 2026 (updated 8 May). cdc.gov/han
  3. UKHSA daily bulletin, 8 May 2026 (consolidated via Wikipedia).
  4. virological.org Andes virus genome publication, 8 May 2026.
  5. Wikipedia, MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak, real-time consolidation. en.wikipedia.org

See methodology for the HantaOSINT source-tiering framework and corrections log for any post-publication amendments to this report.