Has hantavirus ever caused outbreaks in China?

Yes. China reports the world's highest annual burden of hantavirus disease, with roughly 10,000 to 20,000 cases of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) each year — mostly caused by Hantaan virus and Seoul virus carried by Apodemus agrarius (striped field mouse) and Rattus norvegicus (brown rat) respectively. Provinces with the highest incidence are Shaanxi, Heilongjiang, Shandong, and Liaoning. The 2025 epidemiological report from China CDC showed continued decline from 1980s peaks (which exceeded 100,000 cases per year) thanks to rodent control programs and the domestic inactivated bivalent vaccine Hantavax (Hantaan + Seoul, licensed in China since 1994). The MV Hondius 2026 outbreak involves Andes virus — a New World strain unrelated to Chinese-endemic strains — and is therefore epidemiologically separate from China's ongoing HFRS background activity. Travelers to China face very low hantavirus risk in urban areas; rural cabins and grain storage with active rodent infestation are the historical exposure setting.