Italy on Alert: Testing Hantavirus Cases

Italy's health authorities are on high alert as they test biological samples for potential hantavirus infections. The samples belong to two individuals: an Argentine tourist hospitalized with pneumonia and a man from Calabria currently in voluntary isolation.

The Argentine tourist had arrived in Italy from an endemic area on April 30, arriving via a Buenos Aires-Rome flight and subsequently traveled to Sicily, where she was hospitalized with symptoms of pneumonia. Samples for both her and the 25-year-old man are being analyzed at Rome's Spallanzani infectious diseases hospital.

Meanwhile, a British tourist located in Milan has been quarantined after it emerged he was on a flight with a Dutch woman who later succumbed to the virus. With nine confirmed cases linked to a polar expedition ship, the WHO remains vigilant but reassures the public there's no pandemic threat akin to COVID-19.

(With inputs from agencies.)