The hantavirus-hit MV Hondius has departed Tenerife bound for the Netherlands after the final six passengers and some crew left the ship. In Spain, one passenger in Madrid has tested positive, while 13 others in quarantine tested negative, the Health Ministry said.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there is currently “no sign” that authorities are seeing the start of a larger hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship.
Tedros also said that, as far as the WHO is aware, all passengers who disembarked from the vessel have now been located as international tracing and quarantine efforts continue following the outbreak.
WHO, reportedly, expects additional hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak due to extensive interaction among passengers before the infection was confirmed.
The Spaniard who tested positive for hantavirus after being evacuated from the cruise ship MV Hondius has developed fever and breathing difficulties, Spain’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
However, the ministry added that the patient remains stable and has shown no evident clinical deterioration.
The individual is being treated in a military hospital in Madrid, where 13 other quarantined evacuees have tested negative for the virus.
Two planes carrying 28 passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius have landed in the Netherlands, with eight Dutch nationals among those repatriated, authorities said on Tuesday (12 May).
The aircraft arrived at Eindhoven Airport shortly after midnight, while other passengers will continue onward to their home countries from the Netherlands, officials said.
In a separate development, a Dutch hospital treating a hantavirus patient has placed 12 staff members into six-week preventive quarantine after blood and urine were handled without updated safety protocols.
The hospital admitted a Hondius passenger infected with hantavirus on 7 May and said it will review procedures to prevent future incidents.
Meanwhile, the MV Hondius has now set sail for the Netherlands with 25 crew members, a doctor and a nurse on board after all passengers disembarked.
It is expected to arrive by 17 May, according to ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions.
Spain’s Health Ministry said on Monday that one Spaniard quarantining in Madrid after being evacuated from the cruise ship MV Hondius in Tenerife has tested positive for hantavirus.
The ministry said the patient showed no symptoms and was in good condition, adding that additional tests were underway and a definitive result would be confirmed in the coming hours.
Thirteen other Spaniards quarantining at the same military hospital tested negative for the virus, according to an official statement.
The MV Hondius has been linked to an outbreak of the Andes strain of hantavirus, prompting coordinated evacuations and quarantine measures across multiple countries.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services officials said on Monday (11 May) that 18 passengers from the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius have been flown back to the United States and placed under quarantine, with one positive case isolated in a Nebraska biocontainment unit.
Officials said 16 passengers are being monitored at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and two in Atlanta, including one symptomatic patient treated at Emory University’s specialised isolation unit.
The group was aboard the luxury expedition cruise ship linked to an outbreak of the Andes strain of hantavirus, the only known variant capable of limited person-to-person transmission.
The World Health Organization said on Monday that seven cases have now been confirmed among passengers from the ship.
Officials said the Atlanta patients include a couple, one of whom is symptomatic, while the other is being monitored. Nebraska officials said the isolated patient there is “doing well” and remains symptom-free.
Health authorities stressed the risk to the general public remains very low.
Admiral Brian Christine, assistant secretary for health, said the virus “does not spread easily” and typically requires prolonged close contact with a symptomatic person.
President Donald Trump, asked about the U.S. response, said, “I think (it was) fine,” and added, “No, I’m glad,” when asked about withdrawing from the WHO.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr said U.S. authorities had been coordinating since early in the outbreak and had prepared aircraft and specialist teams in Tenerife.
The quarantined group includes 17 U.S. citizens and one British dual national, with monitoring expected to continue for up to 42 days.
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Australia confirmed it will repatriate citizens from the MV Hondius cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, with quarantine on arrival. Spain, France are evacuating nationals as three deaths are confirmed. In the U.S., two passengers have been isolated after testing positive for the virus.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed Iran’s response to a U.S. peace proposal as a “stupid proposal,” saying Tehran failed to commit to abandoning its pursuit of a nuclear weapon, while warning the fragile ceasefire was on “massive life support”.
The U.S. imposed fresh Iran sanctions as President Donald Trump called Tehran’s peace response a “stupid proposal” and warned the ceasefire was on “massive life support”. Meanwhile, the Wall Streeet Journal reported the United Arab Emirates carried out covert strikes on Iran in April.
Metropolitan Shio of Senaki and Chkhorotsku has been elected the 142nd head of the Georgian Orthodox Church at a meeting of clergy in Tbilisi following the death of longtime Patriarch Ilia II.
Afghanistan has signed a five-year gold mining contract with Afghan and Azerbaijani companies in a deal worth more than $20m, the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has said.
The public health challenge linked to the emergence of a rare strain of hantavirus is complex, according to pharmacist and health commentator Thorrun Govind. She told AnewZ's Daybreak the situation was complicated by the number of nationalities involved and the need to safely return the passengers.
Countries worldwide sought to prevent the further spread of the hantavirus on Thursday, after an outbreak on a cruise ship, by tracking those who had disembarked before the virus was detected and anyone who had close contact with them since.
Singapore has isolated and is testing two of its residents who travelled aboard a cruise ship linked to a deadly hantavirus outbreak, the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said on Thursday.
Argentinian authorities are reconstructing the journeys of Dutch citizens who presented with symptoms of deadly hantavirus after visiting Argentina and Chile as part of a luxury cruise trip, the country's Health Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday (6 May)
What is hantavirus? Three people have died and three are still ill on a Netherlands-based cruise ship after it was hit by a suspected outbreak of the deadly virus, according to authorities on Sunday.
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