Hantavirus Outbreak Cruise Ship Docks in Rotterdam After Evacuation

A cruise ship that sparked global alarm after a deadly outbreak of hantavirus docked in Rotterdam harbour on Monday.Twenty-five crew and two medical staff remain on board. The ship, operated by Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions, made headlines after three passengers died from hantavirus – a rare virus for which no vaccines nor specific treatments exist.The World Health Organisation has scrambled to reassure the world that the outbreak was not a repeat of the Covid pandemic, stressing that contagion was very rare. However, the virus has an incubation period of several weeks, meaning more cases from the ship’s occupants could emerge in the future.AdvertisementThe most recent positive test came from Canada in a patient who was on the Hondius, officials said on Sunday. After arriving in the Canary Islands on May 10, more than 120 passengers and crew were evacuated from the ship, either to their home countries or to the Netherlands, which has a special responsibility as the ship is Dutch-flagged.A 65-year-old Frenchwoman became symptomatic on the repatriation flight and ended up in critical condition in a Paris hospital with a confirmed case of hantavirus.Two people, one Dutch and one British, were also urgently evacuated from the ship to the Netherlands and rushed to hospital.All others evacuated to the Netherlands from the ship have tested negative for the virus. Some are in quarantine in the Netherlands, others have already flown home.Everyone still on board is asymptomatic, according to Oceanwide Expeditions. Some of them will stay in quarantine facilities at the port, while others will self-isolate at home. Also on board is the body of a German woman who died during the voyage.The MV Hondius’s voyage began on April 1 in Ushuaia, Argentina, taking in remote islands in the South Atlantic Ocean before steaming north to Cape Verde. The trip was supposed to finish there, but the ship eventually sailed to Tenerife in the Canary Islands for the evacuations by plane.The MV Hondius presented diplomatic challenges as different countries negotiated over who would receive it and treat its passengers.Cape Verde refused to take the ship, which remained anchored offshore of the capital Praia as three people were evacuated to Europe by air.Spain allowed the vessel to anchor off its Canary Islands for the evacuation of passengers and crew but the Atlantic archipelago’s regional government fiercely opposed the measure. Hantavirus spreads from the urine, faeces and saliva of infected rodents and is endemic in Argentina, where the voyage began.—AFP