Health authorities around the world are urgently working to locate dozens of passengers who disembarked from a cruise ship before a deadly hantavirus outbreak was confirmed, as the death toll from the incident rose to three.
It emerged on Thursday that at least 29 passengers of 12 nationalities left the MV Hondius on 24 April after the first fatality occurred, prompting a scramble to identify and track their movements since then. The disclosure came as the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that five of eight suspected cases linked to the ship had tested positive for the virus, and warned that more cases may emerge.
WHO assesses risk as low
“Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it’s possible that more cases may be reported,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general. “While this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the public health risk as low.”
The Dutch health ministry reported that a woman who had not been on the ship was being tested for hantavirus after showing symptoms, and was isolated in an Amsterdam hospital. If confirmed, she would be the first known person not aboard the MV Hondius to become infected in the outbreak.
Passengers scattered across the globe
Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch cruise company operating the vessel, said 29 people – along with the body of the first victim – had disembarked at the British territory of Saint Helena on 24 April. The first confirmed case of hantavirus was not reported until 4 May. The company stated that the disembarked passengers, including six US and seven British citizens, had been contacted. Most, if not all, are believed to have returned home.
“The Australian went back to Australia, the one from Taiwan to Taiwan, the Americans to all corners of North America. The Englishman to England, the Dutch to their homes,” a Spanish passenger still on board the Hondius told El País.
A man who traveled to Switzerland was being treated at a Zurich hospital after testing positive. Swiss authorities said there was no risk to the public. In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was monitoring passengers who had traveled to Georgia, California, and Arizona, according to the New York Times. None had shown signs of illness.
UK and other nations respond
Two passengers who returned to Britain and are self-isolating at home showed no symptoms, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Prof Robin May, the agency’s chief scientific officer, suggested the pair and other returning passengers would be asked to self-isolate for 45 days. “For the broader public, not directly involved in this cruise ship, the risk here is really negligible,” said May.
Two Singapore residents who had been on the Hondius were isolated and tested, Singapore officials said. A Danish citizen who had been on the cruise was in self-quarantine and showing no symptoms, the Danish Patient Safety Authority confirmed.
Outbreak details and virus characteristics
The outbreak has killed three people and caused global alarm. Hantaviruses are primarily found in rodents but can infect humans, causing flu-like symptoms, pulmonary syndrome, and respiratory failure. The Andes hantavirus can spread among humans through very close contact but is less contagious than Covid-19. There are no vaccines available.
Three people with symptoms who were medically evacuated – a 41-year-old doctor, a 65-year-old German passenger, and Martin Anstee, 56, a British expedition guide – are being treated in the Netherlands.
Ship heads to Canary Islands
The Hondius, with 149 people still on board, departed waters around Cape Verde, where it was denied permission to dock, and headed for Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, expected around midday on Sunday. The president of the archipelago, Fernando Clavijo, voiced concerns over the central government’s decision to allow the ship into the Canaries and requested a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Spain’s Health Minister, Mónica García, met Clavijo on Thursday and said there was no threat to public health. The Hondius would remain at anchor and not dock in port. “Its stay in Canary Island waters will be the minimum necessary from a health and logistical point of view, as planned from the beginning and as established by the protocols. Passengers will be evaluated onboard the ship and will only disembark for transfer or repatriation with protective equipment, with a specific health worker, and without coming into contact with the population,” she said.
EU nations are expected to begin evacuating their citizens from the Canaries from Monday. The 14 Spanish nationals onboard – including one crew member – are to be transferred to the Gómez Ulla military hospital in southwest Madrid. Spain’s opposition conservative People’s Party (PP) accused the socialist-led government of mixed messaging over quarantine procedures after the defense ministry said it would be voluntary, while García said there were legal tools to make it mandatory.
Timeline of the outbreak
The polar vessel sailed on 1 April from Ushuaia, Argentina, and made stops in Antarctica and several remote Atlantic islands. A 70-year-old Dutch man showed symptoms on 6 April and died five days later, but it was attributed to natural causes. His body was taken off the ship on 24 April when it docked at Saint Helena, where other passengers disembarked. His 69-year-old Dutch wife flew to South Africa and briefly transferred to a KLM flight before being taken off for treatment. She died. A KLM stewardess who was in contact with her is in an isolation ward at an Amsterdam hospital after showing possible symptoms, Dutch broadcaster RTL reported.
Contact tracing was underway for people who shared the dead woman’s flight from Saint Helena, the WHO said. The body of a German passenger who developed a fever on 28 April and died on 2 May remains on the ship.
One theory links the outbreak to a birdwatching expedition in Argentina by the Dutch couple before they boarded the Hondius. Argentina has Latin America’s highest incidence of hantavirus and has reported 101 infections since June 2025, roughly double the previous year. Argentina’s health ministry said it would carry out rodent trapping and analysis in Ushuaia, the cruise’s point of origin.
