TENERIFE, SPAIN – MAY 10: MV Hondius arrives at the port of Granadilla in Teneriffe, part of the Canary Islands, Spain, on May 10, 2026. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
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Groups of passengers and crew from a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak were evacuated to their home countries on Sunday, where they will remain isolated in accordance with national protocols to prevent further spread of the disease.
Government planes carrying Spanish and French citizens landed in Madrid and Paris on Sunday afternoon and the passengers were taken to hospitals, according to the governments of both countries.
One in five French passengers showed symptoms during the repatriation flight, French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in a post on Twitter.
Flights to Canada, the Netherlands, Turkey, the UK, Ireland and the United States were scheduled to depart by 2030 (1830) local time on Sunday, with the last flights scheduled to depart by 1900 (local time) on Monday.
Passengers will be tested upon arrival and then either taken to local hospitals, quarantine facilities, or taken home for isolation.
The World Health Organization has recommended a 42-day quarantine for all boat passengers since Sunday, its epidemiology and pandemic management director Maria Van Kerkhove said in a briefing.
According to the respective governments, Spanish travelers will be hospitalized for a full 42 days, while French travelers will be hospitalized for 72 hours, then allowed to isolate at home for the next 45 days.
“Our recommendation is daily health checks, either at home or in a specialized facility. It is up to countries to develop their own policies, but our recommendations are very clear,” Van Kerkhove said. He highlighted that the incubation period for the virus was up to six weeks.
‘This is not Covid’
The virus, usually spread by rodents but also person-to-person in rare cases of close contact, was first detected on May 2 in Johannesburg by health officials treating a British man who fell ill and was taken to intensive care, with another traveler dying 21 days later.
A WHO official said on Sunday that the man’s health had improved.
Evacuation by boat of Spanish citizens from the cruise ship MV Hondius anchored near the port of Granadilla in Granadilla de Abona, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, on May 10, 2026. The evacuation operation of the MV Hondius cruise ship carrying Hantavirus is set to begin operations disembarking and transferring passengers to their respective countries.
Europa Press News | Europa Press | getty images
The first passenger to die on the ship probably became infected before boarding the ship during a visit to Argentina and Chile, WHO said.
According to WHO’s Friday report, eight people on the ship have fallen ill, six of whom have been confirmed to be infected with the virus. Three have died – a Dutch couple and a German citizen.
Four people are hospitalized in South Africa, the Netherlands and Switzerland. On the remote island of Tristan da Cunha, a British overseas territory, a suspected case is being treated by a team of medical experts parachuted in by the UK military.
Still, health officials urged calm, reminding the public from experience with the COVID-19 pandemic that the virus is much less contagious and poses little risk to the general population.
A woman in Spain who was tested for the virus after sharing a flight with one of the victims tested negative.
“This is not COVID and we don’t want to treat it like COVID,” Acting US CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya said in an interview with CNN on Sunday. He said the ship’s 17 American passengers would be given the option of isolating at home or at a facility in Nebraska.
Spain’s health ministry also downplayed the risk to the wider population. It said no rodents were found on the ship.
Crew, ship to Netherlands
The luxury cruise ship departed from the coast of Cape Verde for Spain on Wednesday, after the WHO and the European Union asked the country to manage the evacuation of passengers after the outbreak was detected.
The passengers were taken from the ship to shore in small boats and transported to Tenerife Airport in military buses, without coming into contact with the public.
Thirty crew members will remain on board and leave on Monday evening for the Netherlands, where the ship will be disinfected.
A passenger on the ship, Turkish birdwatcher Emin Yogurtcuoglu, wrote in a public post on Instagram, “Thank God we are all okay… I hope we will go through the quarantine process smoothly and be able to see family and friends again.”
