WHO assesses public risk from MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak as absolutely low
Passengers are being repatriated from Tenerife without docking while authorities monitor the spread of the rare pathogen across international travel routes.
The World Health Organization has reiterated that the risk of hantavirus transmission to the general public following the outbreak on the MV Hondius is absolutely low. The assessment comes as the Dutch-flagged vessel, carrying approximately 150 people, approaches Tenerife in Spain where passengers will be repatriated without the ship docking. The agency stated that while the Andes virus is dangerous to those infected, it does not pose a significant threat to the wider population.
Three passengers have died from the Andes virus, including a Dutch couple and a German woman, while others on board have fallen ill. The WHO noted that the Andes virus is the only variant of hantavirus capable of person-to-person transmission, though such transmission remains rare. A flight attendant who had contact with an infected passenger and subsequently developed mild symptoms tested negative for the virus, a development the organisation described as positive evidence that the disease is not spreading with the same contagion as the coronavirus pandemic.
The vessel is expected to arrive off the coast of Tenerife on Sunday, where Spanish authorities have ordered it to anchor rather than enter the port. Passengers will be transferred to the airport via a smaller vessel to facilitate their return to their home nations. Repatriation flights are currently being arranged for citizens from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and other countries affected by the outbreak.
The cruise operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, had previously disembarked 30 passengers at Saint Helena, a remote British territory, triggering a complex chain of contact tracing across multiple international connections. This included a flight attendant on a KLM service who was removed from a flight before take-off after being identified as a close contact. The WHO confirmed that while there were five confirmed and three suspected cases on the ship initially, there are currently no suspected cases remaining on board the MV Hondius.
The outbreak was first detected after three suspected cases, including two crew members, were evacuated from Cape Verde to the Netherlands in mid-April. The ship departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on 1 April for a trans-Atlantic cruise to Cape Verde. A suspected case of hantavirus was also identified on Tristan da Cunha, another isolated British territory visited by the vessel, although no suspected cases remain on the ship itself.
As the situation develops, the WHO emphasised that the picture emerging from the vessel suggests the virus is not easily jumping from person to person, even among those sharing cabins. The organisation stated that an update regarding the total number of confirmed and suspected cases was expected later on Friday, though specific figures were not immediately available in the latest briefing.
