Hantavirus-hit cruise ship arrives in Rotterdam for full disinfection

The cruise ship MV Hondius, which was hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, has docked at the Dutch port of Rotterdam for disinfection, marking the end of a disrupted voyage that prompted international public health alerts, CBS News reports.

The vessel arrived in Rotterdam on May morning carrying 25 crew members and two medical personnel, after all passengers had previously disembarked. According to ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions, “no one on board is experiencing any symptoms.”

Occupants were seen wearing masks on deck as the ship was escorted into port by a tugboat and a Dutch police vessel. Authorities said the crew would enter immediate quarantine upon arrival.

The outbreak has so far been linked to three passenger deaths, including a Dutch couple believed by health officials to have been the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.

The MV Hondius spent the past six days sailing from the Canary Islands, where remaining passengers were evacuated with assistance from personnel in full-body protective gear and flown to more than 20 countries for quarantine.

Health authorities have confirmed at least 11 cases linked to the outbreak, nine of them confirmed.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said one of four Canadians placed in isolation after leaving the ship tested positive on Sunday and that it would share information with the World Health Organization (WHO).

Eighteen American passengers are currently under observation in specialised US healthcare facilities equipped to handle highly infectious diseases.

Crew members unable to return to their home countries will be quarantined in the Netherlands, according to the Dutch health ministry. Some two dozen passengers and crew are already in quarantine in the Netherlands after arriving on separate flights over the past two weeks.

The WHO has stressed that the outbreak is not comparable to COVID-19, noting that hantavirus is very rare. However, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the virus has a long incubation period, meaning additional cases could still emerge among those exposed.

After all occupants disembark, the vessel will undergo full decontamination in line with Dutch public health protocols. “Personal protective measures are being taken to ensure that the cleaners do not need to quarantine after the cleaning,” the Dutch health ministry said in a letter to parliament last week.

Public health officials will inspect the ship before it is cleared to resume operations.

The Dutch company that owns the vessel said it does not anticipate changes to its sailing schedule, with an Arctic expedition cruise still planned to depart from Keflavik, Iceland, on May 29.

France’s Pasteur Institute said it had fully sequenced the Andes virus detected in a French passenger from the MV Hondius and found that it matched known South American strains, with no evidence of mutations that would make it more transmissible or dangerous.

The World Health Organization reiterated that the outbreak appears to be the first known hantavirus incident on a cruise ship, while noting that continued monitoring is necessary due to the virus’s incubation period of several weeks.

By Vafa Guliyeva