The Independent Panel

The Panel Former Co-Chairs @MaEllenSirleaf & @HelenClarkNZ are now supporting discussions around implementing the proposed package of recommendations

[The Independent Panel @TheIndPanel]

. @HelenClarkNZ & @MaEllenSirleaf have 3 messages re the #hantavirus outbreak:

1⃣ Commend int'l coordination since May 2

2⃣ Believe a review of events leading up to 2 May is required to identify and fill gaps

3⃣ Underscore that the time for political leadership for outbreak and pandemic readiness is now.

https://t.co/YFduiEQQkz

[Mohga Kamal-Yanni @MohgaKamalYanni]

In short : Ebola and what needs to be done. Sustained funding of R&D, PPR and health system AND a fair Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing annex to the pandemic agreement

https://t.co/INnv0gtCUE

[Helen Clark @HelenClarkNZ]

Devastating report from @declanwalsh on reality of #Bundibugyo outbreak in #Ituri province of #DRC where there is a lack of PPE to protect families & many health workers; for this strain of #Ebola there is as yet no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment:
https://t.co/Adu96qLGP3

[ICN - International Council of Nurses @ICNurses]

Frontline nurses in DRC and Uganda are facing dangerous PPE shortages as the Ebola outbreak grows. Many are scared for their safety because they lack even the most basic protective equipment.
ICN CEO @HowardCatton warns the world is once again failing the people who protect us. Nurses are delivering extraordinary, lifesaving care, but too often without the masks, face shields and testing kits they need: “If we fail to protect the nurses risking their lives, we fail everyone.”
Nurses need immediate access to PPE and support now.
🔗 Read the Nursing in Practice full article here: https://t.co/L4zUBXGU8I

[Lawrence Gostin @LawrenceGostin]

I learned a lot from spending a week @WHO in Geneva. Grateful to @DrTedros & his team. WHO is actively responding to Ebola, partnering with @AfricaCDC & affected countries

@JenniferNuzzo Alex Phelan & I put out this analysis in @TheLancet

https://t.co/xsdSwnulJg

[Olya Golichenko @Golichenko]

🔊Calling civil society colleagues and other partners! Join in by signing on to Friends of @UN #PPPR #HLM Key Asks.➡️https://t.co/xnKPFfKMxS✅@Loretta40009912 @uwaliraye @aggrealuso @rani_action @Chikwe_I @Dr_JeanKaseya @rosemarymburu @TheIndPanel @Arush_Lal @Pandemic_Fund 2/

[Olya Golichenko @Golichenko]

💪@UN #PPPR #HLM will take place in Sept 2026. Nina @fourpawsint: ‘Civil society leading with the evidence, leading with the stories of communities, and working with @Pandemic_Fund so that countries can access resources’. @rani_action @rosemarymburu @TheIndPanel @Arush_Lal 3/

[David Miliband @DMiliband]

Right now, there are three warning signs that this Ebola outbreak could be particularly difficult to contain:

[Helen Clark @HelenClarkNZ]

Major response being mounted to #DRC outbreak of #Bundibogyo strain of #Ebola, a deadly & devastating disease. All efforts now must be to help those infected with a virus for which there is no specific anti-viral treatment & to stop spread. @TheIndPanel https://t.co/l5iE2d34Bz

[Helen Clark @HelenClarkNZ]

Full marks to @WHO DG @DrTedros for rapid declaration of Public Health Emergency of International Concern following reports of many deaths in #DRC from
#Bundibugyo virus, a strain of #Ebola for which there’s neither a vaccine nor treatment. @TheIndPanel https://t.co/aA8OJIjoiv

[Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus @DrTedros]

After having consulted the #DRC and #Uganda where the #Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus is known to be currently occurring, I determine that the epidemic constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), as defined in the provisions of IHR.

My full statement: https://t.co/EjzdjrMXHO

[Helen Clark @HelenClarkNZ]

@TheIndPanel 4. Ongoing disease outbreaks remind us of importance of national capacity & regional & global collaboration to contain viruses, & of completing the #PABS annex to #PandemicAgreement so that new treaty can move to signature & ratification stages & to implementation. @TheIndPanel

[The BMJ @bmj_latest]

Hantavirus outbreak should reset WHO’s default approach to airborne risk
https://t.co/LHfwL4fFRw

[Helen Clark @HelenClarkNZ]

1. Since confirmation of #hantavirus as cause of death on board cruise ship, international response has been by & large commendable. Questions remain about whether WHO guidelines recommending a precautionary approach to illness on ships were applied. ⬇️ https://t.co/2HuzTiFGT3

[World Health Organization (WHO) @WHO]

The COVID-19 pandemic was linked to an estimated 22.1 million excess deaths from all causes globally between 2020 and 2023—more than three times the 7 million reported COVID-19 deaths.

Learn more about the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic’s global impact.

World Health Statistics Report 2026🔗 https://t.co/OIh71MoF2u

[Karyn Caplan @KarynCaplan]

This #hantavirus outbreak has tested the international system - demonstrated its strengths and revealed gaps. It must now serve as a rallying cry to leaders to sustain focus on disease prevention, preparedness, and response systems, and to invest in them. 

#PABS #PPPR #OneHealth

[Helen Clark @HelenClarkNZ]

“International (#pandemic) treaty sorely needed. 5 years into negotiations, it’s clear that western backers of this plan, especially in Europe, have consistently presented it as fait accompli, while avoiding most basic & obvious political impasse b4 them.” https://t.co/kX66lPDqpB

[Health Policy Watch @HealthPolicyW]

🚨Register today for this important #WHA79 side event ‘Are we ready for the next pandemic threat?’

🗓️19 May, 12:30 - 14:00 CEST
📌Geneva Graduate Institute & Online

REGISTER 👉https://t.co/qbSaygJvk8

@GVAGrad @GVAGrad_GHC @TheIndPanel

[Paul Nuki 🦋 @PaulNuki]

One of the clear lessons of the hantavirus outbreak is that *chance* makes a huge difference to how a disease can spread.

The Andes strain of the virus causes 100s of human infections every year, but most burn out almost immediately.

Occasionally, there is a bigger outbreak fueled by human-to-human transmission but these are rare.

The pattern is a feature of almost all zoonotic spillover events, millions of which happen each year involving thousands of different pathogens.

Mercifully, most go nowhere. They flare then vanish.

Now enter *chance* – a series of unforeseen but often predictable environmental circumstances or events.

A wet market, a trunk road, a game of beer-pong … or in this case, a hop-on-hop-off international cruise with connecting flights.

The map below shows the 12 countries that passengers flew to after disembarking one leg of the cruise in St Helena in late April.

30 passengers disembarked there, one dead, but no one knew then about the disease to which they had been exposed.

The outbreak has been serious, with three dead and at least five suspected cases so far.

About 150 remain on the ship, while hundreds of potential secondary contacts are being traced and asked to isolate around the world.

Nevertheless, the chances are that *this* outbreak will die out too.

The virus does not appear to spread efficiently enough to sustain itself, even with the circumstances it has been handed.

But here’s the thing: it’s a numbers game.

Look again at that map and consider where we would be if the virus was more infectious, or had mutated to become so.

It is why the World Health Organization and pandemic planning is so important.