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STORY: WHO / EBOLA HANTAVIRUS UPDATE
TRT: 05:10
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 15 MAY 2026, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE – GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Close up, WHO logo
15 MAY 2026, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Currently, WHO is aware that 13 cases of Ebola have been confirmed by the L'Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale, I.N.R.B., in Kinshasa.”
4. Wide shot, press briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“This is the 17th recorded Ebola outbreak in DRC since the virus was first identified in 1976. DRC has a strong track record in Ebola response and control, and I have also assured the Minister of our full support.”
6. Wide shot, press briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“The World Health Organization’s Representative to DRC, and other WHO experts, are in Ituri and working side-by-side with DRC health authorities to respond to and contain the outbreak.”
8. Wide shot, press briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Additional WHO experts in risk communication and community engagement, infection prevention and control, clinical care and logistics will join the WHO team already on the ground in coming days. We have deployed medical supplies and protective equipment for infection prevention and control to Bunia, the Ituri provincial capital.”
10. Wide shot, press briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Today, I have released US$500,000 from WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies to immediately support the response.”
12. Wide shot, press briefing room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, Director, Health Emergency Alert & Response Operations, World Health Organization (WHO):
“But the region where it is happening is highly volatile with the humanitarian situation going on and the population moving around from South Sudan to Uganda and other parts. So, our response is to stand with the regional government and the country neighbour in terms of solidarity to show again that they can control this outbreak.”
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Mohamed Yakub Janabi, Regional Director for Africa, World Health Organization (WHO):
“But I want to emphasize, it's important to understand the geography this time. Ituri is 1,700 kilometers from Kinshasa. So, underscoring the operational complicity of responding rapidly in such a remote and in highly mobile settings.”
15. Wide shot, press briefing room
16. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“The outbreak is a reminder of the persistent threat to human health of disease outbreaks, and the importance of cooperation and solidarity to continually strengthen global health security.”
17. Wide shot, press briefing room
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“The response to the hantavirus outbreak is a recent, prime example of what can happen when the world comes together to confront a disease threat.”
19. Wide shot, press briefing room
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Yesterday, I wrote again to the people of Tenerife to thank them for the solidarity they showed to the passengers and crew of the MV Hondius affected by the hantavirus outbreak.”
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“WHO worked together with approximately 30 governments, the ship’s captain, crew and passengers, the cruise ship operator and, crucially, the people of Tenerife to manage this crisis.”
22. Wide shot, press briefing room
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“At a time of great division, tension and uncertainty, we must respond jointly to common challenges that our global community faces, in the spirit of cooperation. For as we at WHO always say, solidarity is the best immunity.”
24. Wide shot, press briefing room
25. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“I am pleased to report that the operation to transfer the ship’s passengers from Tenerife has been successfully completed, with more than 120 people now being cared for in their home countries or quarantined in host countries enroute to their final destination.”
26. Wide shot, press briefing room
27. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“As of today, a total of 10 cases, including three deaths, have been reported to WHO, including eight people who were laboratory-confirmed for Andes virus infection and two probable. There have been no further deaths reported since the second of May.”
28. Wide shot, press briefing room
29. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Because of the long incubation period of up to 6 weeks, more cases may be reported in coming days as passengers return to their countries, where they are being quarantined and tested in specialized facilities or at home.”
30. Wide shot, press briefing room
31. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“This does not mean the outbreak is expanding; it shows that the control measures are working, that laboratory testing is ongoing, and that people are being cared for with support from their governments.”
32. Wide shot, press briefing room
33. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, Director (a.i), Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, World Health Organization (WHO):
“There is quite a bit of experience with hantaviruses in general, and these are typically viruses that are in rodents that spill over into humans. We do know that the Andes virus, which is responsible for this outbreak that we have on the ship, can transmit between people. There is some evidence certainly in the outbreak that we have right now of human-to-human transmission. I do want to remind everyone that our general risk for the global public is low.”
34. Wide shot, press briefing room
35. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, Director (a.i), Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, World Health Organization (WHO):
“So, we are taking a precautionary approach, assuming that there might be additional cases that were on board, which is why, the quarantine measures are so strict for those who have left the ship already.”
36. Wide shot, press briefing room
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) said, “The response to the hantavirus outbreak is a recent, prime example of what can happen when the world comes together to confront a disease threat.”
Briefing reporters in Geneva today (15 May) said, “Currently, WHO is aware that 13 cases of Ebola have been confirmed by the L'Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale, I.N.R.B., in Kinshasa.”
He added, “This is the 17th recorded Ebola outbreak in DRC since the virus was first identified in 1976. DRC has a strong track record in Ebola response and control, and I have also assured the Minister of our full support.”
He continued, “The World Health Organization’s Representative to DRC, and other WHO experts, are in Ituri and working side-by-side with DRC health authorities to respond to and contain the outbreak.”
He also said, “Additional WHO experts in risk communication and community engagement, infection prevention and control, clinical care and logistics will join the WHO team already on the ground in coming days. We have deployed medical supplies and protective equipment for infection prevention and control to Bunia, the Ituri provincial capital.”
He said, “Today, I have released US$500,000 from WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies to immediately support the response.”
Abdirahman Mahamud, Director of WHO’s Health Emergency Alert & Response Operations said, “But the region where it is happening is highly volatile with the humanitarian situation going on and the population moving around from South Sudan to Uganda and other parts. So, our response is to stand with the regional government and the country neighbour in terms of solidarity to show again that they can control this outbreak.”
Mohamed Yakub Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa, World Health Organization emphasized, “It's important to understand the geography this time. Ituri is 1,700 kilometers from Kinshasa. So, underscoring the operational complicity of responding rapidly in such a remote and in highly mobile settings.”
Tedros stated, “The outbreak is a reminder of the persistent threat to human health of disease outbreaks, and the importance of cooperation and solidarity to continually strengthen global health security.”
He said, “Yesterday, I wrote again to the people of Tenerife to thank them for the solidarity they showed to the passengers and crew of the MV Hondius affected by the hantavirus outbreak.”
He added “WHO worked together with approximately 30 governments, the ship’s captain, crew and passengers, the cruise ship operator and, crucially, the people of Tenerife to manage this crisis.”
He stressed, “At a time of great division, tension and uncertainty, we must respond jointly to common challenges that our global community faces, in the spirit of cooperation. For as we at WHO always say, solidarity is the best immunity.”
He reported that the operation to transfer the ship’s passengers from Tenerife has been successfully completed, with more than 120 people now being cared for in their home countries or quarantined in host countries enroute to their destination.
H continued, “As of today, a total of 10 cases, including three deaths, have been reported to WHO, including eight people who were laboratory-confirmed for Andes virus infection and two probable. There have been no further deaths reported since the second of May.”
He said, “Because of the long incubation period of up to 6 weeks, more cases may be reported in coming days as passengers return to their countries, where they are being quarantined and tested in specialized facilities or at home.”
He highlighted, “This does not mean the outbreak is expanding; it shows that the control measures are working, that laboratory testing is ongoing, and that people are being cared for with support from their governments.”
Maria Van Kerkhove, Director of WHO’s Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, said, “There is quite a bit of experience with hantaviruses in general, and these are typically viruses that are in rodents that spill over into humans. We do know that the Andes virus, which is responsible for this outbreak that we have on the ship, can transmit between people. There is some evidence certainly in the outbreak that we have right now of human-to-human transmission. I do want to remind everyone that our general risk for the global public is low.”
She concluded, “So, we are taking a precautionary approach, assuming that there might be additional cases that were on board, which is why, the quarantine measures are so strict for those who have left the ship already.”
