Hantavirus Evacuation Ends as US Passenger Tests Positive

The final evacuation flights from the cruise ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak have landed in the Netherlands, closing the most complex phase of an international health operation that has moved nearly 100 people across 20 countries.

The two aircraft carried 28 passengers and crew members from the MV Hondius, which had been docked in Spain’s Canary Islands. According to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the group included six passengers and 19 crew members.

The passengers — four Australians, one New Zealander and one British resident of Australia — are expected to remain in quarantine near Eindhoven Air Base before returning home.

Their arrival marks the end of a 41-day voyage that began in southern Argentina and turned into an international medical emergency. Nine days after the first positive test was recorded, 94 people had been evacuated and repatriated. Three passengers — a Dutch couple and a German national — died during the outbreak.

Health authorities believe the strain involved is the Andes virus, the only known hantavirus capable of limited person-to-person transmission. The World Health Organization has said the first infection likely occurred before the ship departed from Argentina, where hantavirus is endemic.

The situation continues to evolve. Officials from the US Department of Health and Human Services said one of 18 American passengers has tested positive after being transferred to a biocontainment unit in Nebraska.

The infected passenger is being monitored alongside 15 others at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Two additional passengers, a couple, are being observed at Emory University Hospital.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought to reassure the public.

“We had a CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] team at Tenerife [Spain]. We had aeroplanes ready to take the patients,” he said. “We have this under control, and we’re not worried about it.”

Donald Trump also said he believed the administration’s response had been “fine”.

The WHO has emphasised that the broader risk remains limited. The virus generally requires prolonged close contact to spread, making it fundamentally different from highly contagious respiratory diseases.

Speaking from Tenerife, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “there is nothing to fear. The risk is low. This is not another COVID.”

The agency has recommended a 42-day quarantine for all passengers. As of Monday, it reported seven confirmed cases and two additional suspected cases, though it was unclear whether the newly identified US case was included in that total.

One of the confirmed cases is a French passenger whose condition deteriorated after the ship docked in the Canary Islands, according to French Health Minister Stephanie Rist.

The Hondius is now sailing to Rotterdam, where it will undergo disinfection. Still aboard are 25 crew members, two medical staff and the body of the German passenger who died during the voyage.

In a video message released by Oceanwide Expeditions, captain Jan Dobrogowski praised the “unity and quiet strength” of those on board and the “courage and selfless resolve” of the crew.

“I could not imagine sailing through these circumstances with a better group of people, guests and crew alike,” Dobrogowski said.