TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A number of posts on Instagram [archive] and Facebook since the second week of May 2026 have claimed that the Hanta virus is the result of a conspiracy and an intelligence operation. The uploaders even compared the emergence of this virus to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The posts include several posters with the narrative that the Hanta virus is a global agenda engineered and exaggerated by the media with the ultimate goal of commercializing a vaccine.
However, is the Hanta virus really a conspiracy?
FACT CHECK
Tempo interviewed epidemiologists and investigated credible media reports. The results showed that there is no valid scientific evidence to support the claim that the Hanta virus is the product of a conspiracy, a laboratory engineered product, or a tool for commercializing a vaccine.
The Andes strain of Hantavirus, which infected passengers on the cruise ship MV Hondius in late April 2026, killed three people. This disease is real. Hantaviruses are a group of naturally occurring viruses originating from wild rodents and can cause severe infections and even death in humans.
Of the approximately 22 strains that have developed, the Andes strain—which spread on the MV Hondius—is the only strain proven to be transmissible between humans.
Medical records prove that the Hantavirus is not a new virus that suddenly emerged in 2026. This virus has been identified since the 1950s when it triggered an outbreak of Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome (HFRS) during the Korean War (1951-1953), which infected more than 3,000 UN troops. The virus returned to the western United States in 1993, with an outbreak of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), which infected at least 53 people in 14 states.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) data, as reported by the BBC, estimates that there are 150,000 cases of HFRS globally each year, mostly in Europe and Asia, with the most cases found in China. Meanwhile, in the United States, health authorities recorded 890 cases of infection between 1993 and 2023.
Similarly, COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Worldometer data records that the virus has infected more than 704 million people and claimed over 7 million lives worldwide. The massive spread of these two viruses is driven purely by biological factors and ecological interactions, not by elitist conspiracy scenarios.
Hantavirus Pandemic Potential Is Low
Epidemiologist Dicky Budiman from Australia's Griffith University assesses that the Hantavirus has low potential to trigger a global pandemic like Covid-19. Human transmission generally occurs only through inhalation of particles from the urine, saliva, or feces of infected rodents.
These transmission characteristics are very different from SARS-CoV-2, which spreads rapidly through the air and is often transmitted by asymptomatic patients. Furthermore, of the dozens of Hantavirus strains, so far only the Andean strain has been shown to be transmissible between humans.
"COVID-19 meets almost all the requirements to become a pandemic. Hantavirus, however, does not," Dicky told Tempo on Monday, May 25, 2026.
To date, no Hantavirus vaccine has been produced for global mass use, as is the case with the COVID-19 vaccine. Its use is still limited to South Korea. As a result, the strategy to combat this virus continues to rely on controlling the rat population, maintaining environmental hygiene, early detection, and intensive care in hospitals.
CONCLUSION
Tempo concludes that the narrative claiming that the Hantavirus is the result of a conspiracy is false.
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Fact Check: Is Andes Hantavirus Really a New Virus?
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Fact check - Long before the cruise ship MV Hondius outbreak, the Andes strain of hantavirus had caused outbreaks in Argentina in 1996 & 2018.
Fact Check: Moderna's 2023 Vaccine Research Does Not Prove Hantavirus Was Engineered for Profit
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Fact check -The vaccine was pioneered by S. Korea, while collaboration between Korea University & Moderna since 2023 has only been mRNA-based R&D.
Fact Check: Hantavirus Is Not a Covid-like Conspiracy
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A Tempo fact check debunks social media claims that the Hantavirus is a laboratory-engineered conspiracy or an agenda for vaccine commercialization.
Fact Check: Hantavirus Outbreak Wasn't a Cover-Up for Disney Crew Child Porn Case
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An Instagram claim on May 10, 2026, alleged the Hantavirus was meant to divert attention from a Disney employee child pornography case.
Fact Check: Hantavirus Was Not Planned by Jeffrey Epstein
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Fact check - Hantavirus was first discovered in the 1950s during the Korean war, while Jeffrey Epstein was born in 1953.
Fact Check: WHO Never Linked Hantavirus to Child Vaccination
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Tempo's fact check team's verification reveals that the WHO never claimed the Hantavirus is being used to promote mass childhood vaccination.
Fact Check: Hantavirus Is Not a Second COVID-19 Pandemic
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Fact check - Hantavirus is different from COVID-19 so it is not a second pandemic.
Fact Check: Virus Outbreaks Do Not Occur Every 6 Years
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Fact check - There is no 6-year virus outbreak pattern in epidemiology.
Fact Check: Viral Video of Hantavirus Patient Treatment Is Actually from Covid-19
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Fact Check - The video in question is an old recording and has been circulating on the internet since 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Fact Check: Hantavirus Not Linked to UN 2030 Agenda
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There is no evidence suggesting that the Hantavirus is part of a secret UN agenda, a plan for global depopulation, or the New World Order.
