Evacuations planned from MV Hondius following hantavirus outbreak

Reuters reported that around 150 people remain stranded on the cruise ship MV Hondius after a Dutch couple and a German national died, while several others fell ill, including one Briton who has already been transferred to a hospital in South Africa.

The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), which is assisting with the outbreak response, said one symptomatic patient had been confirmed to be infected with hantavirus.

It remains unclear whether others who fell ill or died had also contracted the virus. An internal source said a Dutch woman who died had tested positive for hantavirus.

Hantavirus, which can cause severe and potentially fatal respiratory illness, can spread when particles from the droppings or urine of infected rodents become airborne. However, it does not spread easily from person to person.

There is no specific treatment for hantavirus. Care is therefore focused on supportive treatment, such as the use of ventilators in severe cases.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said seven hantavirus cases had been identified on the luxury cruise ship, including two laboratory-confirmed cases and five suspected cases. It said the risk to the public was low and there was no need for panic or travel restrictions.

However, Cape Verdean authorities said they had not allowed the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius to dock as a precaution.

“We’re not just headlines. We’re people with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home,” Jake Rosmarin, a US travel blogger, said tearfully in an Instagram video filmed on board the ship on Monday.

“There is a lot of uncertainty, and that is the hardest part,” he added.

A spokesperson for Oceanwide Expeditions, the Netherlands-based company that operates the ship, said all passengers had been ordered to remain inside their cabins as a precaution to prevent the spread of the virus.

Although human-to-human transmission is rare, the incubation period can last several weeks, meaning some people may not yet be showing symptoms.

Oceanwide Expeditions is seeking to repatriate two symptomatic crew members, one British and one Dutch, along with the body of a German national and a guest who was close to the deceased but is not ill.

The company is also checking whether passengers can be screened and disembarked in Las Palmas and Tenerife.

Spanish authorities said they had not yet received a request for MV Hondius to dock and allow passengers to disembark. Reuters sought comment from the Dutch Foreign Ministry, which Oceanwide Expeditions said was handling the docking request, but the ministry had not responded.