What counts as a case in this tracker
A case tracker for an emerging event has to be stricter than social media and clearer than a generic news article. The most useful approach is to separate entries by status and source strength. WHO's Disease Outbreak News item gives the official baseline for the MV Hondius event: eight cases, three deaths, and six laboratory-confirmed Andes virus infections in that baseline. That baseline is the safest center of the dataset because it gives dates, case summaries, clinical context, and risk assessment.
The first category is confirmed. Confirmed means laboratory-confirmed in an official source, or a reported positive result from reputable media that is explicitly labeled as reported and not silently merged into the WHO baseline. For example, the WHO-confirmed ship-related cases are treated as high-confidence confirmed entries. Later Guardian reporting about French and American evacuated passengers testing positive is important, but it remains labeled as reported media evidence until an official health authority confirms and publishes the update.
The second category is deceased. Fatal cases deserve their own treatment because they are both clinically significant and emotionally powerful. They are not double-counted as separate from the case they belong to. WHO's baseline includes three deaths, and the tracker shows which case record the death belongs to and where the death or post-mortem confirmation entered the evidence chain. "Cases" and "deaths" are not additive when that would inflate the total.
The third category is probable. Probable does not mean imaginary. It means the available clinical and epidemiological facts are strong enough to treat the entry seriously, but laboratory confirmation is absent or pending. Case 1 is a good example because WHO describes him as a probable case and states that no microbiological testing was performed. That distinction is important for both scientific accuracy and public trust.
The fourth category is monitoring. Monitoring entries are often the most confusing. A person under monitoring might be a passenger, close contact, flight contact, or returnee from a relevant route. Monitoring does not equal infection. It means public health authorities or media reports have identified someone or a group for follow-up. These entries belong on the map as a watch layer, not as confirmed cases.
The fifth category is suspected or low-confidence lead. A suspected entry can be useful for follow-up, but it is the weakest public class. If a source does not clearly identify an official statement, laboratory result, clinical case, or named public-health response, it does not affect confirmed totals. The wording identifies the entry as a lead, not a confirmed infection.