A global public health emergency has unfolded after a hantavirus outbreak on the Dutch-operated cruise ship MV Hondius left three people dead and triggered a coordinated multinational repatriation operation off the coast of the Canary Islands. On Sunday, authorities began the carefully planned process of evacuating more than 90 of the 150 total passengers and crew from the anchored vessel, with repatriation flights scheduled for multiple nations through the following day.
French Prime Minister Sebastian Lecornu confirmed one French national developed visible hantavirus symptoms mid-flight during a chartered repatriation trip from Tenerife to Paris. As a precautionary measure, all five French passengers evacuated from the ship were placed into immediate strict isolation upon landing at Le Bourget Airport. Photos from the scene show airport officials in full personal protective equipment (PPE) waiting on the tarmac to greet the plane, before ambulances transported the group to Paris’ Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital. According to an official statement from France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the five passengers will undergo a mandatory 72-hour quarantine and full medical assessment at the hospital, followed by a 45-day period of at-home self-isolation.
Other nations have also implemented strict public health protocols for their returning citizens. Fourteen Spanish nationals evacuated Sunday were flown to Madrid and placed into mandatory quarantine at a military hospital in the capital. A plane carrying 26 passengers and crew, including eight Dutch citizens, landed safely in the Netherlands, while all British nationals repatriated on Sunday arrived in Manchester. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) confirmed no British passengers have reported symptoms to date, but all are under active monitoring. British evacuees will spend up to 72 hours in a government isolation facility for assessment before being cleared to complete quarantine at a location suited to their living situation. Repatriation flights for Turkish, Irish and US citizens were scheduled for the same Sunday, with an additional flight bound for Australia set to depart on Monday. Spanish Health Secretary Javier Padilla confirmed all passengers and crew will be repatriated by the end of Sunday, excluding the group heading for Australia.
The coordinated evacuation operation, developed jointly by the Spanish government and the World Health Organization (WHO), launched shortly after 7 a.m. local time Sunday, when the MV Hondius anchored in Granadilla port. Witness footage shows passengers on the vessel’s deck and at portholes all wearing white medical face masks as evacuation got underway. Passengers on the first evacuation shuttle maintained social distancing as they approached shore, where officials in full white protective suits were waiting to receive them. Some British passengers, wearing blue PPE en route to the airport, waved and gave thumbs-up to assembled media parked along their transport route.
The outbreak has sparked local pushback, with the Canary Islands’ regional president publicly voicing concerns about the risk of local transmission on Tenerife, where the ship anchored.
Hantaviruses are primarily carried by wild rodent populations, but the Andes strain linked to this outbreak — which the WHO confirms passengers contracted during a port of call in South America — can spread between humans. Common hantavirus symptoms include high fever, severe muscle and body aches, extreme fatigue, gastrointestinal distress including stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea, and progressing shortness of breath that can lead to life-threatening respiratory complications.
The outbreak has already claimed three lives: the first death was recorded on April 11, a second on May 2, and the third victim was a 69-year-old Dutch woman who disembarked the ship at St. Helena on April 24, dying in South Africa two days later. Two confirmed cases in British men are currently receiving treatment in the Netherlands and South Africa respectively, while a third British man with a suspected case is being treated on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha. British Army medics parachuted onto the island to deliver critical medical supplies for the patient’s care.
Once all passengers and crew have disembarked, the MV Hondius will sail to the Netherlands, where the body of the deceased passenger and their personal belongings will undergo full disinfection before being removed from the vessel.