Lestari Moerdijat: Build Collective Awareness to Anticipate the Spread of Hantavirusq

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Parliament Lestari Moerdijat emphasized the need to build collective awareness to anticipate the spread of hantavirus in Indonesia.

In a statement in Jakarta, Friday, Lestari said that the steps of education and socialization of the threat of hantavirus need to be increased as called for by the World Health Organization (WHO).

"The state through the Ministry of Health has taken concrete steps to be aware of the threat of hantavirus. Even so, public concerns about the threat of the virus in the country must be overcome together," he said as quoted by Antara.

Lestari, who is also a member of Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives, assessed that efforts to prevent the threat of hantavirus require a common understanding of mitigation and actions that must be taken if exposed.

That way, he said, the potential threat of transmission can be overcome together.

The latest case of hantavirus came to light after the World Health Organization (WHO) monitored an outbreak on a Dutch-flagged cruise ship, the MV Hondius, sailing from Argentina.

The agency received a report of a hantavirus outbreak on the Hondius cruise ship on May 2, 2026. Seven people out of a total of 147 passengers and crew were reported ill, three of whom died.

The WHO said that hantavirus victims were likely infected before boarding the cruise ship. Human-to-human transmission on board the ship cannot be ruled out.

Before the case of transmission on the cruise ship, hantavirus had actually been found in Indonesia. The Ministry of Health confirmed that there were 23 positive cases from 2023.

However, the hantavirus cases found in Indonesia are mild variants and do not have the same high fatality or death potential as found on the MV Hondius cruise ship.

"In Indonesia, 23 cases have been found since 2023, but they are all mild hanta fever renal syndrome. If the hantavirus found on the cruise ship in Indonesia has not entered," said Deputy Minister of Health Dante Saksono in Bandung, Tuesday (12/5).

In order to anticipate the transmission of hantavirus, the Ministry of Health has alerted 51 Health Quarantine Centers (BKK) throughout Indonesia.

Acting Director General of Disease Control at the Ministry of Health Andi Saguni explained that the main function of the 51 BKK is to prevent and ward off the threat of infectious diseases from abroad.

"When there is an increase in cases of diseases that have the potential to become epidemics in other countries, the quarantine office is tasked with conducting observations and protection so that the disease does not enter Indonesia," he said in Jakarta, Wednesday (13/5).