Get our news on your inbox! x

Remember me Forgot password

MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, June 8th 2026 - 12:36 UTC

Health & Science

  • Monday, June 8th 2026 - 05:53 UTC

    Falklands, HMS Medway delivered medical support to Tristan da Cunha

    The trip to the remote Tristan da Cunha with six civilian medics and critical supplies was geared to support a British national suspected of having contracted Hantavirus

    HMS Medway, currently South Atlantic patrol and stationed at Mare Harbor in the Falkland Islands successfully concluded an 18day deployment, sailing from the Falkland Islands to Tristan da Cunha and back, delivering critical medical support to a British national and returning safely with the Pathfinders.

    Add your comment!
  • Thursday, May 28th 2026 - 21:35 UTC

    Submarine Force Advisory Council flagged ARA San Juan concerns seven months before its sinking

    Minutes of the Argentine Submarine Force Advisory Council signed by fourteen navy captains on 30 April 2017, seven months before the implosion of the ARA San Juan in the South Atlantic, have become central evidence in the ongoing oral trial before the Federal Oral Court of Santa Cruz, based in Río Gallegos. The document, cited by the Argentine outlet Infobae, details the technical issues outstanding and the operational restrictions affecting the submarine before its final mission, and constitutes one of the central elements of the debate over the eventual criminal responsibility of the four former senior naval commanders charged in the case.

  • Tuesday, May 19th 2026 - 18:53 UTC

    WHO warns of “magnitude and speed” of Ebola outbreak in Congo with 131 deaths and cases in Uganda

    The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, an Ebola species for which no approved vaccines or treatments exist

    The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned on Tuesday before the World Health Assembly meeting in Geneva that “the magnitude and speed” with which the Ebola outbreak is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are alarming, with more than 543 suspected cases, 131 deaths linked to transmission, and 33 laboratory-confirmed infections. Two further cases have been confirmed in neighboring Uganda, both involving Congolese citizens who had crossed the border, one of whom has died. The WHO director convened the organization's Emergency Committee to formulate containment recommendations.

  • Tuesday, May 12th 2026 - 02:27 UTC

    Labs across three continents confirm passenger-to-passenger spread on hantavirus cruise

    Hantavirus shows a reduced capacity to mutate compared with other pathogens such as influenza or coronaviruses

    A comparative genomic analysis of five people infected aboard the polar cruise ship MV Hondius has confirmed that the hantavirus spread from passenger to passenger during the voyage, according to a study published on the open scientific platform Viriological and produced jointly by laboratories in South Africa, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The scientific finding supports the hypothesis handled since the outbreak began, which has left ten people infected and three dead, and completes the epidemiological picture after weeks of investigation.

  • Sunday, May 10th 2026 - 17:08 UTC

    British paratroopers drop onto Tristan da Cunha to treat suspected hantavirus case

    3.3 tonnes of medical equipment were airdropped in three batches, including bottled oxygen, the island's supplies of which had fallen to critical levels

    A British military team parachuted onto Tristan da Cunha on Saturday, the United Kingdom's most remote overseas territory, to assist a British national suspected of contracting hantavirus, in the first humanitarian operation of its kind carried out by the British Armed Forces. The island, home to 221 residents, has no airstrip and is normally accessible only by sea.

  • Saturday, May 9th 2026 - 06:43 UTC

    Tenerife braces for race-against-time operation to evacuate 140 from MV Hondius

    The operational window is narrow. Canary Islands government spokesman Alfonso Cabello warned that the evacuation must be completed between Sunday and Monday

    Spain faces a complex international operation in Tenerife on Sunday to evacuate the passengers and crew of the cruise ship MV Hondius, struck by a hantavirus outbreak that has left three dead and five laboratory-confirmed cases among the eight identified by the World Health Organization. The Dutch-flagged vessel, carrying more than 140 people and one body still on board, will anchor off the port of Granadilla between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. local time.

  • Friday, May 8th 2026 - 15:40 UTC

    Ushuaia landfill scrutinized in cruise ship hantavirus outbreak probe

    Several of the roughly 150 tourists who set sail for Cape Verde on 1 April had visited the landfill, which is frequented by birdwatchers from around the world, drawn by scavenger species

    Seven kilometers from downtown Ushuaia, the municipal landfill serving Argentina's southernmost city has become one of the focal points of the epidemiological investigation into the hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship. Health teams are searching the site for traces of infected rodents. The landfill is frequented by birdwatchers from around the world, drawn by species such as the white-throated caracara, a scavenger bird endemic to the region.

  • Thursday, May 7th 2026 - 23:08 UTC

    Falklands students send special message to Sir David Attenborough on his 100th birthday

    Students from the Falkland Islands' schools have prepared a video message for Sir David Attenborough to mark the broadcaster and naturalist's 100th birthday, which he will celebrate on Friday, May 8. The initiative, announced by the Falkland Islands Government's London Office, seeks to recognise the influence Sir David's documentary series have had on the archipelago's younger generations and his career-long role in showcasing the islands' natural heritage internationally.

  • Thursday, May 7th 2026 - 09:06 UTC

    Foreign Office statement on the Hantavirus outbreak and UKOTs under support

    “Ministers are in close touch with our Dutch and Spanish counterparts and we have been working with other countries to facilitate the medical evacuations”, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper

    A statement from Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on the Hantavirus outbreak, “The outbreak of Hantavirus is very serious and deeply stressful for those affected and their families. The UK response is being led by the UK Health Security Agency working with the WHO.

  • Wednesday, May 6th 2026 - 16:10 UTC

    WHO confirms Andes strain in MV Hondius outbreak and traces 23 passengers who disembarked at Saint Helena

    The MV Hondius is expected to take between three and four days to reach the Canary Islands from its current position off Cape Verde

    The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Wednesday that the variant responsible for the hantavirus outbreak aboard polar cruise ship MV Hondius is the Andes virus, the only documented strain capable of human-to-human transmission, raised the total number of linked cases to eight, and launched the international tracing of 23 passengers who left the ship two weeks ago during a stop at the island of Saint Helena. The confirmation of the strain represents a significant epidemiological development and substantially widens the scope of the health investigation.

Previous