'Low' risk to public of hantavirus after cruise ship deaths, WHO says

A suspected outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship, on which three people have died, presents a low risk to the public, the WHO Europe said Monday, as Dutch authorities planned to repatriate two sick people.

"The risk to the wider public remains low. There is no need for panic or travel restrictions," the World Health Organization's director for Europe Hans Kluge said in a statement, adding that hantavirus infections were "uncommon and usually linked to exposure to infected rodents".