Evacuation of passengers from the MV Hondius begins after hantavirus outbreak
Passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship, a vessel sailing under the Dutch flag and linked to a hantavirus outbreak during an Atlantic voyage, began disembarking on 10 May 2026 in Tenerife, in Spain’s Canary Islands. According to a report by the Associated Press, the first group of evacuated passengers left the ship in the port of Granadilla, after which they were transported to the airport and boarded repatriation flights. Spanish authorities announced that the operation is being carried out gradually, according to the passengers’ nationalities and the protocols of the countries receiving them. On board, according to available information, there were no longer any people with symptoms of the disease at the moment disembarkation began, but the evacuation is being conducted with reinforced protective measures. Passengers and personnel involved in the transfer wore protective equipment, and contact with the local population was reduced to the lowest possible level.
The MV Hondius had been anchored off the coast of Cape Verde in the previous days, after a cluster of cases of severe respiratory illness was recorded during the voyage. The World Health Organization announced that on 2 May 2026 it received notification of a cluster of illnesses on a passenger ship sailing from Argentina toward Cape Verde. According to the WHO update of 8 May, a total of eight cases were reported, including three deaths. Six cases were laboratory-confirmed as hantavirus infection, and all confirmed samples were identified as Andes virus, a strain associated with a severe pulmonary-cardiac form of the disease in the Americas. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control stated that the ship had arrived at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife and that passengers had begun boarding a series of repatriation flights.
The disembarkation operation was organized in phases
The evacuation was not carried out as a routine cruise-ship disembarkation, but as a controlled public-health and logistical operation. According to the Spanish Ministry of Health, the Public Health Commission approved a protocol for handling people disembarking from the MV Hondius, and the measures are based on the precautionary principle. The protocol provides for assessment of health status, identification of contacts, monitoring of people who were on board, and coordination among state, regional and international services. Spain made the decision to receive the ship after coordination with the World Health Organization, the ECDC, the authorities of the Netherlands, the shipping operator and other countries whose nationals are among the passengers and crew members.
According to AP, the first aircraft carrying evacuated passengers departed from Tenerife for Madrid, where Spanish nationals were sent to a military hospital for observation. The French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, according to the same report, stated that French passengers would spend 72 hours under hospital supervision after returning and then continue home quarantine. American passengers, according to reports by U.S. and international media citing health officials, were to be transported to the United States for additional assessment and monitoring. The countries involved in repatriation are applying their own protocols, but the common goal is early detection of possible symptoms during the incubation period. For that reason, disembarkation is not expected to mean an immediate return of passengers to normal activities.
The number of passengers in public reports differed depending on the time of publication and on whether only passengers or crew members as well were counted. In its first report, the WHO stated that there were 147 passengers and crew members on board, while the Spanish Ministry of Health referred to approximately 150 people from 23 countries, including 14 Spanish nationals. The ECDC announced that people from 23 countries were on board, including nine European Union and European Economic Area states. That composition explains why the evacuation is being carried out in phases, with separate reception protocols in the destination countries.
What is known so far about those who became ill
According to the WHO, the first symptoms among those affected appeared between 6 and 28 April 2026. The illness, according to the organization’s report, began with fever and gastrointestinal symptoms, and in more severe cases it rapidly progressed to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and shock. In an earlier report, the WHO listed seven cases, two of which were laboratory-confirmed, five suspected, with three deaths. In the 8 May update, it was confirmed that the number of reported cases had risen to eight, of which six were laboratory-confirmed. The organization emphasized that the investigation is ongoing, including epidemiological follow-up of passengers, reconstruction of possible exposures and verification of contacts after earlier passengers disembarked.
The Spanish Ministry of Health announced that the ship from the Netherlands was sailing from Argentina, with an initial destination toward Cape Verde, after passing through South Africa. In its situation report, the Ministry stated that the event had been reported under the International Health Regulations, which means it is being treated as a cross-border public-health event requiring information exchange among countries. According to available data, symptomatic people had previously been evacuated from the ship, while the people who remained on the MV Hondius at the time of arrival in Tenerife were without symptoms. This does not remove the need for monitoring, because symptoms of Andes virus infection may appear after a longer period from exposure. The U.S. CDC states that symptoms of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome caused by Andes virus usually appear within a range of 4 to 42 days after exposure.
At present, no single source of infection has been officially confirmed. The WHO states that hantaviruses are naturally maintained in wild rodents and that people are most often infected through contact with the urine, feces or saliva of infected rodents, or by inhaling contaminated particles. In earlier information, the Spanish Ministry of Health stated that possible exposures during the journey were being investigated, including time spent in an area where rodents may have been present, but another explanation has not been ruled out either. Because this is Andes virus, health authorities are paying particular attention to the possibility of limited human-to-human transmission, although the WHO and CDC emphasize that such transmission is rare and mainly associated with close and prolonged contact with a symptomatic person. Because of that specificity, the case differs from most hantavirus infections, which are not transmitted between people.
The risk to the wider public is assessed as low
The World Health Organization announced that the public-health risk to the wider population is low, while noting that precautionary measures are being implemented to prevent possible exposure during disembarkation and further travel. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stressed in a public address that this event cannot be compared with the COVID-19 pandemic and that it involves a different virus, a different mode of transmission and a different scale of risk. The ECDC also stated that repatriation flights and passenger monitoring are being carried out in the context of the MV Hondius, and that the public is being referred to official information from national health authorities. The assessment of low risk does not mean that the disease is harmless, but that, according to the mode of transmission known so far and the current situation on board, uncontrolled spread in the community is not expected. For that reason, the emphasis is on targeted measures for people who were exposed, not on broad restrictions for the population of Tenerife or other destinations.
In a health advisory on this event, the CDC states that Andes virus is the only hantavirus for which person-to-person transmission has been documented. Such transmission, according to the CDC, is rare and as a rule requires close, prolonged contact with a symptomatic person, including exposure to saliva, respiratory secretions or other bodily fluids. In its explanation of the disease, the WHO states that hantaviruses in the Americas can cause hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome, a condition that rapidly affects the lungs and heart, while in Europe and Asia they are more often associated with hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. Early symptoms may resemble other infections, which makes the disease difficult to recognize in its initial phase. Precisely for that reason, the protocols for MV Hondius passengers include observation, rapid reporting of symptoms and health checks after return.
For the general public, the most important message from health authorities is that hantavirus does not spread like seasonal respiratory viruses. Usual exposure is associated with rodents and their excretions, especially in enclosed or dusty spaces where rodents have been present. In this case, additional attention is focused on Andes virus because, in rare circumstances, it can be transmitted between people. However, public-health agencies currently do not state that there is a risk for people who were not on the ship, were not in close contact with those who became ill and did not participate in the disembarkation operation. Protective measures in the port of Granadilla are therefore aimed primarily at controlling the known circle of exposed people and preventing any unnecessary contact during transit.
Spain coordinates the response amid international pressure and local concerns
The arrival of the MV Hondius in the Canary Islands also caused local concerns in Spain. Some officials in the Canary Islands requested clear communication about risks and protection of the population, while the central government, according to announcements by La Moncloa and the Ministry of Health, emphasized that reception of the ship was being organized in coordination with the WHO and international partners. The Ministry stressed that information would be published on the basis of verified data. Such an approach is important because, in health crises on ships, uncertainty and inaccurate information can spread very quickly.
The operation in Tenerife involves multiple levels of authorities and services, from health teams to port and security services. According to Spanish announcements, people disembarking must undergo a health assessment and receive further instructions, while travel organization is being adapted to the plans of individual countries. Passengers are not being kept in tourist infrastructure, but are being directed toward controlled routes and flights. In the case of Spanish nationals, according to AP and Spanish sources, departure to Madrid and monitoring in a military hospital are planned. For foreign nationals, responsibility is shared among Spanish authorities, diplomatic missions and the health institutions of the countries receiving them.
The fact that the MV Hondius is an expedition cruise ship also plays a special role. Such journeys often involve longer routes far from major ports, which, in the case of a health incident, complicates medical evacuation and epidemiological processing. According to available information, after the evacuation is completed the ship is expected to continue toward Rotterdam, where further procedures with the crew and disinfection are expected. The ship is therefore being treated as a space requiring sanitary and technical processing, not merely as a means of transport that has completed a journey.
Health monitoring follows after passengers return
After disembarkation in Tenerife, the main part of the public-health response moves to the destination countries. Passengers returning home will, depending on national protocols, be kept under hospital observation, directed into quarantine or monitored through a system of regular reporting to health services. Differences among countries do not necessarily mean different assessments of danger, but reflect different legal frameworks, organization of public health and available capacities. What all protocols have in common is that attention is focused on the incubation period and on rapid recognition of symptoms such as fever, gastrointestinal symptoms, cough, difficulty breathing or sudden deterioration of general condition. In case of suspected illness, people should contact the competent health services according to the instructions they received during repatriation.
For Spanish authorities, the completion of disembarkation will not mean the end of the operation. It is necessary to complete the transfer of all passenger groups, maintain security in the port and airport, coordinate data with other countries and ensure that the ship then continues toward the planned processing procedure. For international health institutions, the MV Hondius case will remain important for several reasons: it is a rare disease on a ship with passengers from multiple countries, Andes virus has been confirmed, and the event has shown how complex repatriation is in a situation where potentially exposed people are located in a closed maritime environment. Official assessments for now remain reassuring for the wider public, but operational measures remain strict for those who were in the known circle of exposure. It is precisely this combination of low public risk and high caution toward exposed people that characterizes the response to the hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius.
Sources:
- World Health Organization – updated report on the hantavirus cluster linked to the MV Hondius cruise-ship voyage and confirmation of Andes virus (link)
- World Health Organization – public address and explanation of the WHO response to hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius ship (link)
- European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control – epidemiological update on the Andes virus outbreak on the MV Hondius ship and arrival in Granadilla, Tenerife (link)
- Ministerio de Sanidad, Spain – protocol for handling people disembarked from the MV Hondius ship and coordination of the public-health response (link)
- La Moncloa / Ministerio de Sanidad – announcement on Spain’s coordination with the WHO and international authorities in the response to the MV Hondius ship (link)
- Associated Press – report on the start of disembarkation and repatriation flights for MV Hondius passengers in Tenerife (link)
- U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – health advisory on the multinational hantavirus cluster linked to a cruise ship and the specific characteristics of Andes virus (link)
- World Health Organization – general fact sheet on hantaviruses, mode of transmission and clinical forms of the disease (link)