British paratroopers and military medics have been deployed to Tristan da Cunha after a suspected hantavirus case was confirmed, as first evacuation flights carrying passengers from the stricken MV Hondius cruise ship left Tenerife for Madrid and Paris.
Spain’s health minister said the final two flights evacuating passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship are scheduled to depart on Monday (11 May) afternoon, as repatriation efforts continue following the outbreak onboard the vessel.
Evacuees from the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius cruise ship arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday (10 May) aboard a repatriation flight from Tenerife, AFP reported.
The flight from Tenerife was carrying 26 passengers and crew, including eight Dutch nationals, according to the Dutch foreign ministry.
A plane carrying five French citizens evacuated from the MV Hondius cruise ship landed at Le Bourget airport near Paris shortly before 4:30pm local time (14:30 GMT) on Sunday, AFP reported.
The five French citizens repatriated from the MV Hondius cruise ship will be placed in quarantine at Bichat Hospital in Paris for 72 hours to allow for a full medical evaluation.
"On of them showed symptoms in the repatriation plane," French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in a post on X. "These five passengers have immediately been placed in strict isolation until further notice,'' he added.
A flight carrying 14 Spanish evacuees from the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship arrived in Madrid on Sunday, AFP reported.
The passengers and crew, evacuated from Tenerife, were taken to Madrid’s Torrejon airbase and will undergo quarantine at a military hospital.
British paratroopers and military medics have been deployed to Tristan da Cunha, the world’s remotest inhabited island, after a suspected hantavirus case was confirmed there.
“With oxygen supplies on the island at a critical level, an airdrop with medical personnel was the only method of getting vital care to the patient in time,” the UK Ministry of Defence said.
Brigadier Ed Cartwright added that “the arrival of paratroopers, medical personnel and medical supplies from the sky has hopefully reassured the people of Tristan da Cunha”.
A first group of passengers, all Spanish nationals, has begun disembarking from the cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak and is being taken by small boat to the Port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Spain’s health ministry said.
Officials said the passengers will be transported directly from the port in military buses to the airport, where they will be flown to Madrid on a Spanish government aircraft and taken to hospital for quarantine.
Spain is continuing the evacuation of passengers from the hantavirus‑affected cruise ship, with the health minister saying the second group to disembark will be Dutch nationals.
The Netherlands will also arrange transport for passengers from Germany, Belgium and Greece, as well as part of the crew.
Further evacuations are expected to include passengers from Turkey, France, Great Britain and the United States.
The Spanish Health Minister, Mónica García Gómez, added that the Netherlands will send another aircraft on Monday to collect those not evacuated today, while the final flight is expected to depart for Australia on Monday afternoon.
Spain has begun evacuating passengers from a cruise ship linked to a hantavirus outbreak that is anchored near Tenerife, the health ministry said on Sunday.
Health officials boarded the vessel to carry out final checks before disembarkation began.
Authorities said the first group of passengers, all Spanish nationals, are being taken ashore by small boats and transferred into sealed buses to a nearby airport, where they will be flown to Madrid on a government aircraft without any contact with the public.
Reuters
The luxury cruise ship MV Hondius, affected by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, arrived early on Sunday, 10 May, off the Port of Granadilla in Tenerife, according to Reuters footage. The vessel will remain at anchor while passengers and some crew are evacuated.
Spanish officials said none of the passengers has shown signs of infection, but all will be tested by health authorities to confirm they remain asymptomatic. Once cleared, passengers will be taken ashore in small boats and transferred by sealed buses to Tenerife’s main airport, around ten minutes away, for flights to their home countries.
Europe’s public health agency said late on Saturday that, as a precaution, all passengers aboard MV Hondius are being treated as high‑risk contacts.
A Spanish woman who was tested for hantavirus after taking the same flight as a patient who died from the disease and displaying symptoms consistent with an infection has tested negative, Spain's health ministry said on Saturday.
The woman, who is in the Spanish province of Alicante, will be tested again as a precautionary measure, the ministry added.
British passengers and crew on a cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak will be taken to a hospital in north-west England for an initial isolation period after being repatriated, UK health officials have said.
The vessel, the MV Hondius, is expected to anchor off Tenerife on Sunday morning, before 22 British nationals are flown back to the UK. Spain has said several European countries, including the UK, Germany, France, Belgium and Ireland, are coordinating evacuations after the outbreak, which has left eight people ill and resulted in three deaths.
As a precaution, the returning passengers will undergo assessment and testing during an initial stay of up to 72 hours at a managed facility, with Sky News reporting this to be Arrowe Park Hospital near Liverpool. Authorities stressed that the risk to the wider public remains very low.
The UK Health Security Agency had previously indicated that all passengers and crew would be required to isolate for up to 45 days upon returning home.
British passengers and staff on the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak will be taken to a hospital in northwest England to isolate once they are repatriated, Sky News reported on Saturday.
The ship is expected to dock on the Spanish island of Tenerife on Sunday, following which the 22 British nationals onboard will be flown back to Britain.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, arrived in Spain on Saturday to join senior officials in Tenerife overseeing the safe disembarkation of passengers from a cruise ship affected by a Hantavirus outbreak.
Tedros said on X that he had been in contact with the ship’s captain and a WHO colleague on board, adding that no additional passengers were currently showing symptoms of the virus.
Spain’s health minister said the risk to the general population from the Hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship remains low, adding that the vessel is expected to dock between 0400 and 0600 local time in Tenerife.
Authorities said Spanish nationals are expected to disembark first, while passengers from other countries will only leave the ship once evacuation flights arranged by their governments are ready.
Spain’s interior minister said flights to France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands have been confirmed.
Officials also said the deceased passenger will remain aboard with part of the crew before the ship continues to the Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection.
The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Friday (9 May) that six of eight suspected cases linked to the Dutch-flagged cruise vessel MV Hondius have tested positive for hantavirus, a rare rodent-borne disease that can be fatal and, in limited circumstances, spread between humans.
Officials said they are now investigating additional suspected infections outside the ship’s direct passenger group, raising concerns about possible secondary transmission linked to international travel.
Health authorities in Spain’s Alicante region are testing a 32-year-old woman who developed symptoms consistent with hantavirus infection after briefly sitting on a flight near a passenger connected to the cruise outbreak.
In a separate case, the UK Health Security Agency said a British man on Tristan da Cunha (one of the world’s most remote inhabited islands) is also suspected of infection after possible exposure linked to the same voyage.
The cases are not yet included in the WHO’s official outbreak count but are being actively investigated by national health agencies.
The outbreak began aboard MV Hondius, which was carrying 147 passengers and crew when a cluster of severe respiratory illnesses was first reported during its voyage through Antarctica and the Atlantic.
Three people, a Dutch couple and a German national, have died. Four patients remain hospitalised in the Netherlands, South Africa and Switzerland.
World Health Organization said laboratory analysis indicates the outbreak involves the Andes strain of hantavirus, the only known variant capable of limited human-to-human transmission through prolonged close contact.
Despite concern over new suspected cases, WHO officials said the risk to the general public remains low.
Technical officer Anais Legand said transmission patterns so far do not suggest sustained community spread, noting that infections have largely been confined to close contacts of confirmed cases.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has activated a “level 3” emergency response, indicating a moderate outbreak requiring enhanced coordination but not a global emergency.
The cruise operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said no symptomatic passengers remain on board as the ship heads to Tenerife, where health screenings will be conducted before disembarkation.
United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 17 U.S. citizens were aboard and that returning passengers will be flown to Omaha for quarantine at the University of Nebraska under medical supervision.
Health authorities across multiple countries are continuing contact tracing for passengers who disembarked earlier in the voyage, as the investigation into possible secondary transmission continues.
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