Global health authorities are racing to trace dozens of passengers who disembarked from the cruise ship MV Hondius before isolation measures were enforced, following a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has claimed at least three lives.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has stressed that the incident does not pose a Covid-style pandemic threat, despite growing concern surrounding the first documented cases of human-to-human transmission linked to hantavirus aboard a cruise vessel.
Speaking at a WHO briefing, infectious disease epidemiologist Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove said the virus spreads very differently from Covid-19 and influenza, emphasizing that transmission requires “close, intimate contact.”
“This is not the start of an epidemic. This is not the start of a pandemic. This is not Covid,” she said.
The WHO confirmed that five out of eight suspected cases connected to the ship have tested positive for hantavirus. Three deaths have been reported, including a 69-year-old Dutch woman who later died in South Africa after leaving the ship. Her husband and a German woman also died, though investigations are ongoing to determine whether their deaths were directly linked to the virus.
The MV Hondius, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 for a voyage expected to end in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10. Around 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries were initially aboard the vessel.
Authorities became particularly concerned after at least 29 passengers from 12 nationalities disembarked on the island of St Helena on April 24, before the outbreak had been fully identified. Several countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, the Netherlands and Ireland, are now monitoring or tracing returning passengers.
Health officials said the incubation period for the Andes hantavirus can last up to six weeks, raising the possibility that additional cases could still emerge.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organization currently assesses the overall public health risk as low. He explained that the first confirmed patients had traveled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip where exposure to infected rodents may have occurred.
Hantaviruses are typically transmitted through contact with rodents, their urine, saliva or droppings. However, WHO officials noted that the Andes strain found in South America is the only known hantavirus capable of limited person-to-person transmission.
Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme warned against misinformation circulating online, saying there is no evidence suggesting the outbreak could evolve into a global pandemic.
“Infection has occurred in a confined setting involving prolonged close contact among passengers aboard the ship,” he explained, comparing the incident to a limited hantavirus outbreak recorded in Argentina between 2018 and 2019.
Spain has agreed to allow the ship to dock in Tenerife after Cabo Verde reportedly declined the request over public health concerns. Spanish authorities said strict isolation procedures would be enforced once the vessel arrives.
Passengers will remain onboard until repatriation flights are ready, and officials say they will be transferred in isolated vehicles directly to secured airport areas without contact with the public.
Spain’s civil protection chief Virginia Barcones assured residents there was “no possibility of contact” between passengers and the wider community during the evacuation process.
Meanwhile, WHO experts, Dutch doctors and European disease specialists boarded the vessel earlier this week to oversee medical care, infection prevention measures and disinfection procedures during its final voyage to the Canary Islands.
Oceanwide Expeditions said all passengers who previously left the ship have been contacted, while symptomatic individuals onboard are being isolated immediately. Passengers remaining aboard have also been asked to stay inside their cabins as monitoring continues.