Race to trace potential hantavirus carriers
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Eight cases connected to the cruise ship have been identified, but authorities fear that the dozens of passengers who disembarked on St Helena two weeks ago could be carriers of the virus. The World Health Organisation, however, has said that it does not believe this is the beginning of a pandemic.
Also on the programme: in the UK two men are convicted of spying for China, one of them an immigration official; and the AI fitness instructors selling unreal gains.
(Picture: The cruise ship MV Hondius leaves Praia, Cape Verde, May 6, 2026. Credit: REUTERS/Stringer)
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:09.2 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour. |
| 0:11.3 | It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service Studios in central London. |
| 0:15.1 | I'm Tim Franks. |
| 0:16.7 | We're beginning with the Hanta virus outbreak, which I should say prompts a question before going any further. |
| 0:23.0 | The question is, why? Is it our small sign, our own signalling, that we should all be particularly worried about the outbreak and this rare and potentially quite deadly infection? |
| 0:33.8 | Well, the good news is that the world's top infectious disease specialists say that we are absolutely not at the stage of a COVID-like pandemic, that they expect this to be a limited outbreak. |
| 0:44.9 | But given the nastiness of this disease and the international nature of its transmission, given that this outbreak has been on a cruise ship with people from more than 20 countries aboard. |
| 0:55.0 | There are real questions about how the threat is being mitigated. |
| 0:59.3 | We'll have more on that in a moment. |
| 1:00.8 | First, though, an update on where we are now. |
| 1:03.0 | There are thought to be eight cases connected to the M.B. Hondias cruise ship. |
| 1:07.7 | About 150 passengers and crew had been on board. |
| 1:13.7 | Dozens, though, disembarked on the island of St Helena two weeks ago. Efforts are underway to trace them. Meanwhile, the ship itself is heading |
| 1:19.6 | to the Canary Islands, where passengers are expected to disembark and be flown back to their |
| 1:24.3 | home countries. Residents on the Canary Islands say, though, |
| 1:28.5 | they're uneasy about the boat docking. |
| 1:33.2 | I think the most sensible thing would be for them to think about us |
| 1:36.5 | and not allow that ship into the Canary Islands. |
| 1:39.8 | It should stay where it is, |
| 1:41.6 | and then they should take it to mainland Spain or to Africa and deal with |
| 1:45.3 | the situation there. |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 1 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.