The cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak has entered the port of Granadilla on the island of Tenerife, according to live footage on Spanish television.
May 10, 2026, 06:40May 10, 2026, 08:04
Live footage from state television broadcaster RTVE showed the ship’s arrival early in the morning. From Granadilla, the people on board the “Hondius” will be taken to a nearby airport under strict security precautions and immediately flown to their home countries. Then a 40-day odyssey ends for the almost 150 people on board the Dutch ship, which began on April 1st in Ushuaia in southern Argentina and took a dramatic turn along the way.
The “Hondius” is on its way to Tenerife.Image: keystone
Spain’s Health Minister Mónica García, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska and the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) came to the island specifically to monitor the complicated operation. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus assured that the hantavirus is not a pathogen comparable to the coronavirus. In a message directly to the people of Tenerife he emphasized:
“This is not a new Covid.”
The risk for the people on the island is low – especially since no new suspected cases have occurred on the cruise ship.
Initially it was said that the ship would anchor in front of the harbor for safety reasons. The Spanish merchant navy gave permission to enter the harbor that night.
Medical staff should first examine the people on board for acute symptoms of illness, as the Spanish authorities announced. If there are none, the passengers will be disembarked in groups of a maximum of five people. According to García, they must wear FFP2 protective masks and are only allowed to take light hand luggage.
The bus then takes you to the airport, which is a few minutes away by car. There, the strictly isolated people and their respective compatriots should immediately board the aircraft provided for them without further processing and be returned to their home countries. According to the World Health Authority (WHO), all flights should take off on Sunday and Monday because a bad weather front will arrive later. After arrival, all those who have been flown out will probably have to be quarantined, as an all-clear is only possible after weeks due to the long incubation period.
As soon as the people are off board, the “Hondius” should immediately continue its journey and head towards the Netherlands, whose flag it sails under. Only there should the body of a German who died on board be taken off the ship. The ship is also disinfected in the Netherlands.
Virus outbreak sparks international concern
Hantavirus is usually transmitted by rodents, but can also spread from person to person through close contact. The outbreak of the South American Andes variant of the virus on the small cruise ship caused concern worldwide – also and especially because of the memory of the corona pandemic. In the Canary Islands in particular, people expressed fear about possible infection with the potentially deadly virus.
But the current case is different than the beginning of the corona pandemic more than six years ago. Even if the Andes virus were to be transmitted by evacuated ship passengers, the virus would not be easily transmittable, according to the EU health authority ECDC, “so it is unlikely that there would be many cases of infection or a large-scale outbreak in the population.” The risk to the general population in the EU from the spread of the Andes virus is “very low”.
In the case of “Hondius”, the WHO speaks of six confirmed hantavirus cases and two suspected cases. Three of these eight people have died. The dead are an older couple from the Netherlands and the woman from Germany. Since a total of more than 30 passengers and crew members disembarked during the ship’s stopovers, a global search is now underway for potential suspected cases.
The Spanish health system was the deciding factor
The WHO had asked Spain to allow people to disembark in the Canary Islands, off Africa’s west coast, because the archipelago was the first potential destination on the ship’s route with world-class health care. Cape Verde, where the “Hondius” was last anchored, did not want to accept the passengers, citing the inadequate supply options there.
The “Hondius” began its journey through the South Atlantic on April 1st from Ushuaia in the south of Argentina. Ten days later, a Dutchman died, his wife left the ship during a stopover in St. Helena and flew to South Africa on April 24th, where she died shortly afterwards in a hospital. According to the ship operator Oceanwide, the German died on May 3rd.
The WHO suspects that the chain of infection started from the deceased Dutch couple, who may have been infected on land before embarking in Argentina. (sda/dpa)