Hondius Docks in Rotterdam After Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak

The MV Hondius has arrived in the Netherlands for disinfection after a rare hantavirus outbreak killed three passengers and triggered a multinational quarantine operation.

The cruise ship docked in Rotterdam on Monday with 25 crew members and two medical personnel on board. According to operator Oceanwide Expeditions, none of those still on the vessel is showing symptoms.

All passengers had already disembarked at other locations, with the final group evacuated from the Canary Islands and flown to more than 20 countries for quarantine. The ship then spent six days sailing to the Netherlands.

Near the docking area in Rotterdam, authorities set up white containers along the water to house crew members who cannot be immediately repatriated. Those crew members will enter quarantine in the Netherlands.

The outbreak has been linked to at least 11 infections, nine of them confirmed. Three passengers died, including a Dutch couple whom health officials believe were first exposed while travelling in South America.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said on Sunday that one of four Canadians in isolation after leaving the ship had tested positive. It said information on the case would be shared with the World Health Organization.

The WHO said late Sunday that it was keeping its risk assessment at “low risk”.

“While additional cases may still occur among passengers and crew members exposed before containment measures were implemented, the risk of onward transmission is expected to be reduced following disembarkation and the implementation of control measures,” it said.

That distinction is central to how authorities are handling the outbreak. Hantavirus can be severe, but it does not spread easily between people. The strain involved, the Andes virus, is one of the few hantaviruses capable of limited person-to-person transmission, but health officials say close and prolonged contact is typically required.

The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport said crew members who cannot return home will remain in quarantine in the Netherlands. Around two dozen passengers and crew members had already entered quarantine there after arriving on separate flights over the past two weeks.

Once everyone has left the ship, the Hondius will be decontaminated under Dutch public health guidelines.

“Personal protective measures are being taken to ensure that the cleaners do not need to quarantine after the cleaning,” the ministry said in a letter to parliament last week.

Public health officials will inspect the vessel before it is allowed to sail again. The outbreak is believed to be the first known hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship.

France’s Pasteur Institute said on Saturday that it had fully sequenced the Andes virus detected in a French passenger from the Hondius. The institute found that it matched strains already known in South America, with no evidence so far of new characteristics that would make it more transmissible or more dangerous.