With the monsoon season just weeks away, public health experts have urged the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and state public health departments to intensify rodent control and sanitation measures amid heightened global concern over hantavirus infections and other monsoon-related ailments.

A hantavirus outbreak recently occurred aboard a luxury cruise ship travelling from the Netherlands to the Atlantic Ocean, where over 180 tourists, including two Indian nationals, were stranded for more than three weeks before the vessel docked at the Canary Islands. Passengers are expected to remain in isolation for 42 days before returning to their home countries.