The risk of hantavirus spread in Armenia is currently assessed as low, the country’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement. Health authorities continue to monitor the international situation, it added.

No cases of hantavirus have been reported in Armenia so far.

The World Health Organization is currently not advising any travel or trade restrictions regarding the hantavirus situation.

Hantavirus mainly spreads via inhalation of contaminated particles from the urine, feces, or saliva of infected rodents. Only one strain, Andes — the one involved in the outbreak that began on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean — can spread between people. However, it does so only in very specific, close-contact situations. Hantavirus can be very dangerous for those who become infected but does not pose the same broad outbreak risk as SARS or COVID-19.

The last passengers and some crew members have now left a Dutch cruise ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak after disembarking at Granadilla port in south-east Tenerife. Dozens of passengers from around the world have been making their way home.

Three people — a Dutch couple and a German woman — have died after travelling on the ship, with two of them confirmed to have had the virus.

As of May 12, there have been 11 cases in total — 9 confirmed and 2 suspected. 

According to health officials, hantavirus is not spread through everyday social contact. In the rare instances where a person has contracted hantavirus from another person (rather than from a rodent), it has involved close and prolonged contact with an infected individual.

The World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) assess the risk to the general population as very low.