St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—As the world continues to discuss the recent cases of Hanta virus that have drawn international media attention, regional health authorities are urging calm amid growing concern.
Since the discovery of the virus on board a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean, many have begun describing it as a potential new pandemic.
However, medical practitioners at the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) are seeking to clear the air and provide context.
CARPHA’s Executive Director, Dr Lisa Indar, spoke during a press conference.
“As the Regional Public Health Agency and the CARICOM Health League has been monitoring the Hanta virus outbreak aboard the international expedition cruise vessel, the Dutch-registered MV Honduras, originally reported to by the WHO on May 2 as a cluster of passengers with severe respiratory illnesses. It departed Argentina on April 1 2026, on a tour to the South Atlantic. To date, as of this morning, May 11, eight cases have been identified by the WHO, including both confirmed and suspected infections. It is not yet clear whether the newly identified U.S. and French passenger cases are included in this total. In addition, in this, it includes three reported deaths. Passengers and crew have originated from 28 countries, including the Philippines, the U.S., the UK, and the Netherlands. Several individuals disembarked or were medically evacuated to different jurisdictions, prompting international contact tracing across multiple countries. The WHO, the World Health Organisation, alongside Dutch authorities, have put the vessel under strict public health protocols, following a notification by the IHR focal point for the United Kingdom to the WHO of a cluster of respiratory infections on board the vessel on May 2.”
When asked about the situation in St. Kitts and Nevis, particularly regarding a passenger travelling on a passport issued by the Federation, Dr Indah clarified that there are currently no confirmed cases, according to a statement issued by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer.
“But respect to the first question, are ministries being reactive rather than proactive? And I would want to say ministries are actually quite proactive. CARPHA has been working with Ministries of Health, you know, early warning mechanisms and systems that are in place. And this includes, you know, monitoring of illnesses that may occur on a cruise ship. This ship was not coming to the Caribbean, so it wouldn’t have been something they would have easily picked up. However, there are systems, existing mechanisms in the countries. So the monitoring, our talk walker information system would have picked it up the day after the WHO reported as well. So the reactivity, though, comes from hysteria when persons are not aware, fully aware. This is why we are having this press conference. And I think it’s best I could also address the St. Kitts situation to the Chief Medical Officer, their ministry, that would have sent out a statement. And I want to read the statement carefully. It says, there is no suspected or confirmed cases in the Federation of St. Kitts. So based on this report, there are no suspected or confirmed cases in the Federation of St. Kitts. So I’m asking the media to understand that, you know, as we go along. But we’re trying to curb the hype because based on the scientific evidence, the risk remains.”
CARPHA officials said the agency has been working around the clock to keep the region updated with accurate and relevant information, stressing that conspiracy theories will only fuel unnecessary panic.
Dr Horace Cox, Director of Surveillance at the Disease Prevention and Control Division at CARPHA, also addressed the matter.
“So it was around the incubation period, and whether the six-week incubation period, and whether we are breaking this down for the colleagues. So what I wanted to share is that when we speak of incubation period, we basically speak of from the time someone becomes infected to when they start to demonstrate symptoms. And of course, this can vary depending on the disease that we’re referring to. Of course, in this case, it was referencing six weeks in the case of antivirus. Importantly to note that when we’re considering diseases and how they spread, six weeks would not be ideal because if it takes, the longer time it takes for someone to become symptomatic is the further away they could be from the source of where they became infected. And it makes it difficult to manage it from a public health perspective. So ideally, we would want that it be as short a time as possible. So this, when we look at the specific criteria, it is not necessarily the ideal for public health specialists and what we’d prefer. Because if you had something that would have been transmitted a bit more efficiently, which is not the case of antivirus, then it could have been a nightmare. So just to convey clearly to you, even though the six-week period is a bit longer than we would ideally want in terms of incubation period for any disease, because the virus is not efficiently transmitted from human to human, it does allow for us to execute or implement the necessary public health actions.”
The officials spoke during a press conference on Monday, May 11, 2026.
