India, May 8 -- The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that reported hantavirus cases involving two Indian nationals are isolated incidents and do not pose an immediate public health threat to India.

Dr Naveen Kumar, Director of the ICMR's National Institute of Virology (NIV), said on Friday that there is no evidence of community transmission and the situation remains under control.

His statement came after reports that two Indian passengers aboard a cruise ship were detected with hantavirus infection. The World Health Organization (WHO) is monitoring the situation and has described the overall public health risk as low.

According to health experts, hantavirus is primarily transmitted from animals to humans, particularl...