TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A video claiming to have staged a Hantavirus patient's treatment has been circulating on Instagram [archive], Facebook, and Threads since the second week of May 2026. The footage shows two healthcare workers in full protective gear treating a patient.
However, another man is seen sitting nearby without a hazmat suit or head protection. "Careless coverage of the elite Hanta Virus sales force. The moment one of the hospital visitors wasn't wearing PPE. It turned out the virus had already been discovered before it spread widely," wrote the uploading accounts.
Does the video really show medical personnel at the hospital staging a Hantavirus treatment?
FACT CHECK
Tempo verified the content using Google's reverse image search feature and matched it with credible information. The results showed that the recording had been circulating online since 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, not regarding the handling of the Hantavirus.
The video is a broadcast by Italian public broadcaster Rai, from the program "Vita in Diretta," which was uploaded to their Instagram account on November 17, 2020. Tempo transcribed the conversation in the video using OpenAI's Whisper application and then translated it into Indonesian.
The clip shows the placement of a respirator on Luciano, a 68-year-old patient in the sub-intensive care unit of the Amedeo di Savoia Hospital, Turin, Italy.
Luciano wore the respirator for 9 to 10 hours at night. This video was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, which claimed 731 lives in 24 hours, as reported by Kompas TV.
Hantavirus is not COVID-19
The spread of Hantavirus was detected in early May 2026 after a cluster of infections emerged on the cruise ship MV Hondius. This case sparked concern because it resembled the COVID-19 transmission on cruise ships, as reported by the BBC.
The ship departed on April 1 from Ushuaia, Argentina, and disembarked 30 passengers on St. Helena Island, United States. The cruise was scheduled to reach the Canary Islands, Spain, on May 10.
Upik Kesumawati, Head of the Health Entomology Laboratory at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedicine, IPB University, explained that hantavirus originates from rats and has been discovered since 1978 in South Korea.
This zoonotic virus is carried by dust contaminated with rat urine, feces, and saliva. Transmission occurs when these materials are inhaled by humans. Direct contact with rat droppings or contaminated food can also spread the virus.
Prevention relies on maintaining food and environmental hygiene. The public is advised to be careful when cleaning rat nests.
"Do not immediately sweep or vacuum rat nests and droppings until they are dry, as virus particles can become airborne and inhaled. Wet the area first with a disinfectant solution," the article stated.
Riris Andono Ahmad, a lecturer in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Population Health, Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, Gadjah Mada University (UGM), stated that in addition to primary transmission from rats to humans, secondary transmission can also occur between humans.
According to him, the secondarily transmitted hantavirus is the Andean strain, originating from the Andes Mountains, South America. This strain triggers Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS), a potentially fatal lung syndrome.
"The Andes strain can be transmitted through droplets, but it's not as easily transmitted as COVID-19 because it requires close and prolonged contact," Riris said in an online discussion held by the campus on Wednesday, May 13, 2026.
CONCLUSION
Tempo's verification concludes that the narrative claiming the circulating video contains a fake medical worker treating a hantavirus patient is false. The video depicts patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.
TEMPO FACT-CHECK TEAM
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