The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring 41 people in the US for the Andes hantavirus after a cruise ship was hit with a rare outbreak, but the risk to the public remains low, according to health officials.

This includes a group of 18 passengers from the cruise ship who are now in quarantine facilities in Nebraska and Georgia. The agency is also monitoring passengers who returned home before the outbreak was identified and others who were exposed during travel, specifically on flights where a symptomatic case was present.

“Most people under monitoring are considered high-risk exposures, and CDC recommends that everyone under monitoring stay at home and avoid being around people during their 42-day monitoring period,” David Fitter, incident manager for the CDC’s hantavirus response, told reporters during a media briefing on Thursday. “We emphasize not to travel across all these groups.”

The Andes virus is a strain of hantavirus found in South America that can be transmitted from person to person. Typically, hantavirus is passed to humans when they come into contact with rodent droppings or urine. A respiratory virus, the disease can cause difficulty breathing and carries a fatality rate of around 35 percent. As of Thursday, the World Health Organization has confirmed 11 cases of the Andes virus among passengers of the MV Hondius cruise ship, including three deaths.

A Department of Health and Human Services official confirmed to WIRED that all Americans who were on board the Hondius at any point during its journey are now back in the US.

The CDC has legal authority to issue federal quarantine and isolation orders to prevent the spread of certain communicable diseases into or within the US. Fitter said on Thursday that the CDC is not using that authority to manage all 41 of the individuals who were potentially exposed to the hantavirus.

“Our approach is based on risk and evidence,” he said. “We are working closely with passengers and public health partners to ensure monitoring and rapid access to care if symptoms develop. Our goal is to work with them and alongside them, building plans based on their specific situations to protect the health and safety of passengers and American communities.”

Individuals will be monitored for 42 days, which is the amount of time it can take for hantavirus symptoms to appear after exposure. Symptoms begin as flu-like, with fever, muscle aches, and fatigue, then rapidly progress to severe respiratory distress.

A flagship project that promises to revolutionise the way the public interacts with UK government services is now available. It can only be accessed via the Gov.uk app, however, which means people will need to use a relatively modern iPhone, iPad or Android device. There are also known compatibility issues that may affect users who rely on assistive technology.

The artificial intelligence (AI) tool, called Gov.uk Chat, aims to tackle government inefficiency by offering people a chatbot through a dedicated smartphone app, rather than waiting to speak to a call handler. In January, the State of digital government review reported that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) handles approximately 100,000 calls each day, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) processes around 45,000 letters daily, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) still manages more than 500 paper form-based services.

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said Gov.uk Chat draws on tens of thousands of pages of guidance from UK government public websites and has been designed to help people find answers to questions often buried in government websites. DSIT said early trials have shown demand is strongest around tax, driving and transport, and benefits.

It can also be used in business. For instance, it can help sole traders understand their tax obligations, guide entrepreneurs in setting up a new company, or point small business owners to relevant grants and support. DSIT said Gov.uk Chat provides fast, reliable answers drawn from across UK government websites, thereby helping businesses to spend less time navigating government and more time focused on growth.

Commenting on the launch, technology secretary Liz Kendall said: “Modernising our digital services is central to building a government that works for everyone. For too long, navigating government has felt like a full-time job.

“Whether you’re a parent trying to find out what childcare you’re entitled to, a first-time buyer working out which schemes you can access, or someone approaching retirement, you shouldn’t have to spend time trawling through hundreds of web pages to get a straight answer. Gov.uk Chat changes that – putting clear, reliable information in people’s hands in seconds, at any time of day.”

Gov.uk Chat is built into the Gov.uk app, which was launched last year. This can be installed on iPhones with iOS 16 or above, which means people need an iOS device from 2022 onwards – the oldest supported iOS devices are the iPhone 8 and the 5th-generation iPad. For Android users, the Gov.uk app requires Android 10 or later, which means smartphones from 2019 are supported. However, version 10 of the Android operating system reached end of life in March 2023, which is when Google stopped releasing official security updates.

The March 2026 accessibility statement from the government regarding the Gov.uk app recognises limitations in usability. For iOS users, it is not possible to use Assistive Touch and iOS Reachability mode at the same time in the Gov.uk app. There are also parts of the app that cannot be easily navigated with an external keyboard, preventing some users from accessing all content or selecting links.

For Android, along with some difficulties relating to screen navigation, in Gov.uk Chat conversations, users cannot select individual links within Chat’s responses when navigating with an external keyboard. Another issue is that when Gov.uk Chat gives very long responses, the screen does not automatically scroll to show the specific content currently being read or highlighted.

At the time of writing, the government had not confirmed whether any of these accessibility issues had been resolved.

Laden with iconic Royal Oak design cues, most notably the octagonal case, eight-screw bezel, and Petite Tapisserie-patterned dial, the strapless design heavily references 1979’s Royal Oak Pocket Watch reference 5691. Inside is an entirely new hand-wound version of Swatch’s Sistem51 caliber, a movement that is completely machine assembled. Swatch has 15 active patents on this new iteration and has also squeezed in an impressive 90-hour power reserve. There’s even an antimagnetic Nivachron balance spring that was, incidentally, codeveloped with Audemars Piguet.

Swatch’s 1986 POP line, whose watch heads could be physically ejected from their frames and clipped elsewhere, has been plundered here to create a design that allows the Royal Pops to ping out of their bioceramic holder clips, too.

Why There’s No Wristwatch

The simple logic of the pocket watch design authorized by Audemars Piguet, which, unlike Omega, is not part of the Swatch Group, is that it doesn’t upset its existing high-net-worth customer base. Royal Oak owners will no doubt be breathing sighs of relief now that it’s confirmed a version of their coveted pieces won’t be coming to market for a mere few hundred bucks.

However, this doesn’t mean that AP would have been financially hit had it delivered what the public so clearly wanted. Omega, which was also concerned for its sales when shown the original MoonSwatch internal prototypes, enjoyed a sizable 50 percent bump in sales following the release of its budget cousin.

The Royal Pop pocket watch, cleverly, is a sidestep designed to generate as much hype as possible yet be as safe as can be for AP’s brand. The Royal Oak design language is unmistakable, but the wrist is off-limits. With Swatch, Audemars built something real for its aspirational fans; it just didn’t build them what they wanted.

What does Swatch get out of this? Valuable PR as well, but far more importantly, the potential of a much-needed sales hit. In 2025, the group posted a 6.75 percent drop in sales and a staggering 55.6 percent decline in operating profit, primarily attributed to a sharp drop in demand for its watches in China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Swatch Group shareholders are not happy.

How China Will Come to the Rescue

Here is where the story gets interesting for reasons neither Swatch nor AP planned. As Swatch resurrected its POP design, allowing the Royal Pop to be removed from its housing, within hours of the Royal Pop announcement, third-party strap brands seized on this prospect, looking to quickly fashion adaptations that convert the timepiece from pocket to wristwatch. As Royal Pops were designed to snap in and out of lanyards and desk stands, they should just as easily clip into bracelets and straps made specifically to receive them.

The market recognized in real time that the pocket watch from Swatch and AP tantalizingly contained all that was structurally needed to deliver the very wristwatch that the AI concepts had promised. All that was required now was something to connect the case to a wrist.