Please agree to our privacy policy to enable news listening. (Central News Agency, Geneva, July 7, Comprehensive Foreign News Report) Although the United States and Argentina have announced their withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), the WHO said today that it still maintains good cooperation with the United States and U.S. agencies in responding to the deadly hantavirus epidemic, and also thanked the Argentine government for its cooperation. Agence France-Presse reported that the hantavirus outbreak occurred on the cruise ship MV Hondius in the Atlantic Ocean. The outbreak was only confirmed last weekend. Many countries are currently working to monitor passengers who had left the cruise ship and returned home before then. It is reported that many passengers have returned to the United States, which has announced its withdrawal from the WHO under President Donald Trump. WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the two sides continue to exchange technical information. He told reporters at the WHO headquarters in Geneva: “The current situation is actually the same as in the past, that is to say, we share information here and obtain information from the United States.” Argentina is one of the core countries of this crisis. The Hondias sailed from the country on April 1, and the first case of the epidemic is believed to be infected in Argentina, and Argentina has also announced its withdrawal from the WHO. Tedros said today that the WHO “is cooperating with the Argentine health authorities.” The “Andes strain” circulating there is the only hantavirus strain known to be transmitted from person to person, and it is also the culprit of this epidemic. “I would like to thank the Argentine government for its cooperation based on their experience and expertise with the Andes strain,” Tedros said. He added that the WHO had “arranged to ship 2,500 test kits from Argentina to laboratories in five countries.” According to Tedros told reporters in Geneva, a total of 5 confirmed and 3 suspected cases, including 3 deaths, have been reported so far. He also said that more cases may emerge, and the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands announced later that another patient had tested positive. Abdi Rahman Mahamud, director of the WHO’s Emergency Alert and Response Unit, said: “We believe that if public health measures are implemented and countries work together, this will be a contained epidemic.” People believed to be infected with the virus are being treated or quarantined in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and South Africa. Maria Van Kerkhove, Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management, WHO Kerkhove) also emphasized: “This is not the beginning of an epidemic, nor is it the beginning of a pandemic. This is not COVID.” (Compiled by: Yang Zhaoyan) 1150508 supports Central News Agency’s choice to stand with the facts. Every donation you make is a force to protect press freedom. Small-scale sponsorship downloads the Central News Agency’s “First-hand News” APP to get the latest news in real time. The text, pictures and audio and video of this website may not be reproduced, publicly broadcast or publicly transmitted and used without authorization.
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