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yesterday

WHO Confirms Five Hantavirus Cases Tied to Cruise as Ship Heads to Spain

Health agencies escalate containment using evacuations, tracing and ship screening.

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TOPSHOT - An aerial view of an ambulance boat carrying crew members wearing hazmat suits as they approach the pilot door on the starboard side of the cruise ship MV Hondius, while stationary off the port of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, on May 5, 2026. Two seriously ill crew members on a cruise ship stricken by a deadly hantavirus outbreak will be evacuated via Cape Verde to the Netherlands, allowing the vessel to sail on to Spain's Canary Islands, the ship operator said Tuesday. The MV Hondius has been at the centre of an international health scare since Saturday, when WHO was informed that the rare disease -- usually spread from infected rodents typically through urine, droppings and saliva -- was suspected of being behind the deaths of three of its passengers. As others fell ill, passengers and crew have been in isolation after Cape Verde authorities barred the ship from docking, and as health authorities scrambled to find a port that would take the Hondius. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
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Overview

  • WHO said Thursday that eight cases linked to the MV Hondius are under investigation, with five laboratory-confirmed and three deaths, and it warned more cases could surface given the Andes virus’s long incubation period.
  • A fourth sick passenger landed in Amsterdam on Thursday after three medical evacuations on Wednesday, with patients now in care or isolation in the Netherlands, Switzerland, South Africa, Britain and Germany.
  • The Dutch-flagged ship is sailing toward Tenerife for controlled docking and screening, with the operator reporting no symptomatic people on board and Spanish officials expecting arrival on Sunday.
  • Contact tracing now targets an Airlink flight from Saint Helena to Johannesburg with 82 passengers and six crew, and a KLM flight attendant in the Netherlands is being tested after possible exposure.
  • Sequencing has confirmed the Andes strain, which is carried by rodents and can rarely spread between close human contacts, as Argentina launches rodent trapping in Ushuaia to probe a possible source before boarding.