# Two Dutch nationals who died from the hantavirus are suspected to have contracted the rare Andes strain. The man died at see while his wife died in a Gauteng hospital last weekend. During a briefing to Parliament’s portfolio committee on Health, minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the Andes is the only one of 38 known strains known to spread between humans, though only through very close contact. He stresses the virus is far less transmissible than Covid-19. The couple were passengers on the cruise ship MV Hondius with 147 people on board.
Rare Andes strain of hantavirus caused death of Dutch couple