WHO

The World Health Organization says suspected Ebola cases in DR Congo are rising amid security challenges and regional violence

The World Health Organization will today, May 19, 2026, convene an emergency committee to discuss the urgent matter of the Ebola outbreak after it was declared a global health emergency on Sunday

The WHO will host its sixth Walk the Talk challenge in Geneva on May 17, promoting healthy lifestyles and inclusive community participation

One of the repatriated passengers showed symptoms during the rescue flight from the North Atlantic. The French Defense Minister announced a special decree to allow isolation measures to be applied to contact cases. The European Commission representation in Spain: "Following Spain's request under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, a rescEU air ambulance is being deployed from Norway to Tenerife"

The unusual hantavirus outbreak aboard the Dutch expedition ship MV Hondius has raised difficult questions about disease preparedness at sea, human transmission risks, and how modern cruise ships respond when rare infections emerge far from land

In a recent media briefing, the World Health Organization confirmed eight reported hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship, while stressing the rare outbreak does not spread like COVID or influenza. Citizens from these 13 countries got off the cruise ship at St. Helena before they learned about the outbreak: the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, St Kitts

Airlink has also confirmed that the deceased Dutch national infected with the hantavirus had flown from Saint Helena to Johannesburg aboard an Airlink flight before boarding a KLM aircraft to fly to Amsterdam. The World Health Organization, the CDC, Canada, and UK have all issued fresh hantavirus updates. Spain's Ministry of Health announces "the person with symptoms who had been on a plane in Gran Canaria since yesterday has been transferred to Amsterdam on a new medicalized plane"

After confirming that the MV Hondius will arrive in the Canary Islands following the hantavirus outbreak, Spain has officially received the first three suspected hantavirus cases, despite the Canary Islands' president disagreeing with the decision. UPDATE: WHO informs the public that Swiss authorities have confirmed another case of Hantavirus in a previous passenger from the same ship

WHO update: The WHO says seven people became ill, including three deaths, in the hantavirus cluster on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Human-to-human transmission may have occurred, report specialists. "Based on the current information, including how hantavirus spreads, WHO assesses the risk to the global population from this event as low"

Hantavirus originates in animals and also infects humans, although it is not transmitted between them. The dangerous virus can cause severe lung or kidney damage and even death. Here's how to recognize symptoms and reduce the risk of infection. Also: the bad news about treatment and mortality rates