As passengers aboard the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius are being repatriated, Argentine health authorities are investigating the steps of a Dutch couple who died in the outbreak -- a trail that leads them to southern Argentina.
The Dutch-flagged cruise ship departed Ushuaia, capital of Argentina's southernmost and least populous province of Tierra del Fuego, early in April. On Friday, local authorities denied that the disease originated there. However, the region where the ship began its journey lies within the known endemic zone for the virus.
The Andes virus, a type of hantavirus, is found in South America. Argentina has recorded cases since the 1990s, including an outbreak in 2018.
The total number of cases over the past eight years remains under 650, but the pattern is changing.
Official figures show the number of cases recorded so far this year is already around double the number of infections from the whole of 2025.
Despite images of ships in quarantine off the coast of Africa, experts say this is not a disease that spreads like COVID-19.
"There is some mistake and misinterpretation that this is the beginning of a severe epidemic outbreak. I am quite sure it is not. The disease has a limit. If you isolate the patients and you treat the patient early, the disease is limited. In Argentina, when this outbreak (happened) in the past, self isolation of the patient in the house (helped) cut the outbreak rapidly," said Eduardo Lopez, infectious disease specialist of the Hospital Ricardo Gutierrez in the city of Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also said it is not the start of a new pandemic. But the infectious disease specialist has warned that the disease has a mortality rate that can reach 40 percent.
"The mortality of hantavirus is high worldwide -- in South America (for example) -- it is between 20, 30 or 38 percent," said Eduardo Lopez.
Argentina's health ministry has deployed teams across Tierra del Fuego to trace the source of this disease and find answers to how and where this outbreak began.
As of May 8, a total of eight cases, including three deaths, have been reported.
The cruise ship arrived off the Port of Granadilla on the Spanish island of Tenerife early on Sunday, where Spanish authorities will launch a large-scale operation to evacuate passengers and part of the crew following the deadly outbreak onboard. Spain's Interior Minister said on Saturday that Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands will send aircraft to repatriate their citizens from the outbreak-hit ship.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an open letter published on Saturday that no new suspected cases have been reported on board.
The WHO assessed that the current public health risk from hantavirus remains low.
Argentina races to find origins of cruise ship hantavirus outbreak
China's postal and express delivery industry is being revolutionized by advanced technologies such as smart warehousing, automated sorting, and unmanned delivery systems.
In Zhenning County, southwest China's Guizhou Province, local honey plums are currently in peak production and sales season. Express delivery companies have partnered with fruit growers, directly entering the orchards for sorting and packaging.
Utilizing drones and shuttles, these companies have created an integrated delivery system that combines picking and sorting with direct dispatch. This innovation addresses previous challenges, such as farmers transporting goods down steep mountains, excessive transfers, and significant product loss.
"Once the fruit is packed by farmers, drones first transport the plums to a collection point at the mountain's base, after which trucks take them to a sorting center for dispatch. This allows Zhenning honey plums picked and packaged the same day to be shipped out by drone, establishing a rapid fresh-fruit transport channel," said Lai Junnan, a drone specialist from a local logistics company.
To tackle inefficiencies like time-consuming sorting and delays from secondary redistribution, express delivery companies have deployed intelligent automated sorting vehicles, established dedicated shipping routes, and enhanced direct links to airports.
"The automated sorting vehicles operate on six shipping routes that send items directly to the corresponding airports for quick distribution. These direct routes have significantly reduced our sorting time compared to previous years -- we've cut it by more than half a day," said Liu Banglei, business director of a local logistics company.
Meanwhile, the introduction of unmanned vehicles has significantly reduced delivery times, especially in rural and remote areas.
"Our area used to be quite remote, and packages often arrived late. However, since we started using unmanned vehicles, delivery times have improved significantly. Now we can pick up our parcels by noon -- it's much faster than before," said Li Hongbao, a resident of Pingchuan Town, Linze County northwest China's Gansu Province.
Unmanned delivery vehicles are now deployed daily in over 200 cities to transport parcels, with drones handling nearly four million items each year. Many large sorting centers have fully automated operations, while smart warehouses utilize flying-ladder and pallet-moving robots for precise picking.
Once packaged, parcels enter an automated system for weighing, scanning, and bagging, completing the process in as little as 15 minutes. Electronic waybills have achieved full coverage, and over 95 percent of trunk-line vehicles are equipped with Beidou satellite navigation systems.
These advancements in information technology are enhancing efficiency, increasing successful delivery rates, and boosting user satisfaction each year.
Technology transforms China's delivery industry
