Global disease outbreaks, factually summarised
This page consolidates current notifications from WHO Disease Outbreak News and assessments from ECDC. No own risk judgements — only the official statements, with date, source and direct link.
Featured
Hantavirus cluster on cruise ship in South Atlantic
Seven cases, three deaths on a Dutch-flagged cruise ship. WHO and ECDC are coordinating the response. The pathogen is Andes hantavirus, the only hantavirus with documented person-to-person transmission.
Other current notifications
On 4 April 2026, the National IHR Focal Point of Bangladesh notified WHO of a significant increase in measles cases, driven by sustained domestic transmission.
On 21 March 2026, the National IHR Focal Point for Italy notified WHO of the identification of a human case of avian influenza A(H9) in an adult male.
Since 10 December 2025, and as of 25 February 2026, 99 countries and territories have been identified as having received batches of infant formula products subject to recall due to contamination with cereulide toxin.
In December 2025, the United Kingdom detected the first reported case of a clade Ib/IIb MPXV recombinant strain.
On 3 February 2026, the Bangladesh IHR NFP notified WHO of one confirmed case of NiV infection that occurred in Rajshahi Division, northwestern Bangladesh.
On 26 January 2026, the India IHR NFP notified WHO of two confirmed NiV infection cases that occurred in West Bengal State.
On 14 November 2025, after the laboratory confirmation of suspected viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) cases in Jinka town, South Ethiopia Regional State, Ethiopia, the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia declared an outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (MVD).
Since the first report of MERS-CoV in the KSA and Jordan in 2012, a total 2635 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV infection, with 964 associated deaths (Case Fatality Ratio (CFR) of 37%), have been reported to WHO from 27 countries, across all six WHO regions (Figure 1).
Globally, influenza activity has increased since October 2025 with influenza A viruses predominant among the viruses detected globally.
InfectRisk tracks respiratory infections — not hantavirus
This overview aggregates official outbreak notifications worldwide. The InfectRisk app itself shows live data on influenza, COVID and RSV across 36 countries — based on national surveillance systems such as RKI, ECDC, CDC and UKHSA. If you want to know how high respiratory activity is in your area right now, the app is the direct answer.
Sources
- WHO Disease Outbreak News — international notifications under IHR (2005)
- ECDC Threats and Outbreaks — European-level assessments