The cruise ship MV Hondius docked in Rotterdam, the Netherlands' largest port, on Monday morning for disinfection, as Dutch authorities finalised quarantine arrangements for the 27 people remaining on board — 25 crew members and two medical staff. The vessel, operated by Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions, became the centre of an international health response after a cluster of severe respiratory illnesses was first reported to the World Health Organization on 2 May. Three people have died since the outbreak began: a Dutch couple and a German national. As of the latest confirmed figures, ten cases have been officially recorded, with the WHO awaiting confirmation of a potential eleventh.
Canada's Public Health Agency confirmed on Sunday that one of four Canadian passengers who returned home from the ship — a couple in their 70s from the Yukon — had tested positive for the Andes hantavirus, the strain at the centre of this outbreak. The couple are hospitalised in Victoria, British Columbia. The three other Canadians who travelled on the Hondius remain in isolation. Authorities noted that all confirmed cases to date have been directly linked to the ship, and that the overall risk to the general Canadian population remains low.
The Andes virus, which has circulated in Argentina and Chile for decades, is primarily spread by rodents but can be transmitted between people in rare and prolonged close-contact situations. There are no vaccines or specific treatments for hantavirus. Incubation can last up to six weeks, meaning the search for new cases could stretch on for months. The WHO recommends a 42-day quarantine and monitoring period for high-risk contacts, while low-risk contacts are advised to self-monitor and seek care if symptoms develop. Dutch local authorities said quarantine facilities had been arranged for some of the non-Dutch crew, though it remained unclear whether they would remain in quarantine for the full recommended period.
The ship had been stranded off Cape Verde, an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean off West Africa, after authorities there barred passengers from coming ashore. The WHO and the European Union coordinated an evacuation via the Canary Islands, Spain's autonomous archipelago off the northwest African coast, before the Hondius departed for Rotterdam with a skeleton crew. Ship samples show no meaningful variation in the virus, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, a finding that has helped authorities rule out a mutating strain.
The WHO, which has stressed the situation bears no resemblance to the Covid-19 pandemic and does not constitute a pandemic threat, reiterated on Sunday that the global public health risk remains low. It noted that the risk of onward transmission is expected to diminish now that passengers have disembarked and containment measures are in place. Residents of Rotterdam expressed measured concern, with some worried about compliance with quarantine rules — a sensitivity shaped by the pandemic years — but few anticipated a wider public health emergency. "I am not worried at all," said one 18-year-old resident. Health authorities across multiple countries where passengers and crew have returned are continuing their monitoring efforts.