OREANDA-NEWS  The appearance of new cases of hantavirus among the passengers of the MV Hondius after the evacuation did not come as a surprise, said Diana Rojas Alvarez, head of the World Health Organization (WHO) division for new zoonotic diseases.

An outbreak of the deadly Hantavirus occurred on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, which was en route from Argentina to Cape Verde. WHO has confirmed 11 cases of infection, three people have died.

"We expected that cases might appear in the coming days. It's not a surprise," she said in an interview with Pais newspaper.