Oceanwide Expeditions said on May 7 that all passengers showing symptoms have been removed from the cruise ship MV Hondius. The company reported that the three people airlifted from the vessel are now under medical care and that no symptomatic individuals remain on board. Oceanwide is tracing everyone who was on the ship and investigating possible contacts with the virus. The operator said 30 guests disembarked on Saint Helena on April 24 and have all been contacted; earlier Dutch government briefings had referred to 40 disembarked passengers whose whereabouts were initially unclear. Oceanwide is compiling a full list of people who embarked and disembarked the Hondius since March 20.
Timeline of events
– March 20: MV Hondius departs Tierra del Fuego with 149 people on board.
– April 1: Ship departs Ushuaia.
– April 6: A 70-year-old Dutch man becomes ill with fever, headache, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
– April 11: The man dies; cause initially unknown.
– April 24: Hondius docks at Saint Helena; the man’s body and his wife disembark.
– April 25: The Dutch woman and her husband’s body flown to South Africa; the woman becomes unwell during the flight and is too sick to continue to the Netherlands.
– April 26: The woman dies in a Johannesburg hospital.
– April 27: A British passenger is airlifted to Johannesburg after severe illness.
– April 28: A German passenger becomes seriously unwell.
– May 2: The German passenger dies; tests on the British patient provide the first confirmed hantavirus diagnosis.
– May 3: Hondius reaches Cape Verde with three passengers, including the ship doctor, reporting symptoms; the vessel is initially not permitted to dock.
– May 4: Hantavirus confirmed in tests on the Dutch woman who died April 26.
– May 5: Spain allows the ship to dock in Tenerife for quarantine and passenger repatriation.
– May 6: Three patients evacuated from the ship; two flown to the Netherlands and one to Düsseldorf, Germany.
– May 7: A Dutch stewardess who briefly had contact with the deceased Dutch passenger is taken to an Amsterdam hospital after feeling unwell.
Cases, deaths and testing
So far three deaths have been linked to the outbreak: an elderly Dutch couple and a German woman. Other passengers who returned to their home countries have tested positive or are being monitored. Sequencing indicates the virus matches the Andes strain of hantavirus. Argentina’s Malbrán Institute is sending Andes virus RNA to laboratories in Spain, Senegal, South Africa, the Netherlands and the UK to support up to about 2,500 diagnostic tests.
Patient transfers, hospital care and logistics
Several suspected cases were medevaced by air ambulance. Patients landed at Amsterdam Schiphol and were taken to hospitals prepared for severe infectious diseases under strict isolation and personal protective measures; at least one was destined for Leiden University Medical Center. Two patients flown to Amsterdam required a replacement air ambulance after a technical fault affected the isolation unit’s electrical support. One evacuation flight made a technical stop in Gran Canaria after Morocco refused refueling in Marrakesh; Spanish authorities permitted the stop on condition that no one boarded or disembarked.
Precautionary monitoring and contact tracing
A Dutch stewardess who had brief contact with the deceased passenger is isolated and being tested in Amsterdam. An asymptomatic person who had contact with infected individuals was taken to University Hospital Düsseldorf’s infectious diseases unit for precautionary evaluation. The UK Health Security Agency advised two British nationals who returned independently to self-isolate; neither reported symptoms. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is monitoring American passengers and described the overall public risk as very low, noting hantavirus typically requires close or prolonged exposure and is not spread by people without symptoms.
International response and investigations
Argentina will send technical teams to Ushuaia to trap and test rodents in areas connected to the voyage. Argentina’s health ministry noted there have been no recorded hantavirus cases in Tierra del Fuego province since mandatory reporting began in 1996. The World Health Organization has said global risk is low and cautioned against equating this event with the early COVID-19 pandemic; while human-to-human transmission of the Andes strain can occur, it generally requires prolonged close contact and is considered uncommon. Public health experts stress containment via isolation, contact tracing and quarantine.
Ship movements and next steps
After leaving Cape Verde, MV Hondius set course for Tenerife, a three- to four-day voyage, with Spanish authorities agreeing to allow the ship to dock for quarantine and passenger repatriation once local arrangements are in place. Health agencies and authorities continue contact tracing, testing and monitoring of passengers and crew who boarded or left the ship during the voyage that began March 20.