A rare virus, originating from an animal. People who have to go into quarantine. Suspicions that the virus has also been transmitted between humans. The first deaths.

Professor of virology Marion Koopmans (Erasmus MC) understands why, with the COVID-19 pandemic still fresh in people’s memory, there is so much interest in the hantavirus outbreak on the Dutch cruise ship Hondius, off the coast of Cape Verde. For some, it evokes associations with the “corona cruise” Diamond Princess, which had to be quarantined for two weeks off the coast of Japan in February 2020.

The Netherlands is still not well prepared for a next pandemic, says Koopmans, scientific director of the Pandemic & Disaster Preparedness Center, where researchers study pandemic and climate-related threats. “That new epidemics and pandemics will come is certain,” says Koopmans. “Only not when.”

Read the full (Dutch) article on the NRC website. Note: the article is behind a paywall.

Source: NRC
Date: May 5, 2026

Want to know more? Marion Koopmans also spoke with EenVandaag and Bloomberg about hantavirus and pandemic preparedness.