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Hantavirus-hit cruise ship docks in the Netherlands
The MV Hondius, a cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak, arrived at the Dutch port of Rotterdam for disinfection. The ship was carrying 25 crew members and two medical personnel, all of whom are reportedly not experiencing any symptoms.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, one of the four Canadians in isolation after leaving the ship tested positive for the virus, and they will share information with the World Health Organization (WHO).
The crew who cannot return home will be quarantined in the Netherlands, as confirmed by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
Hantavirus-Hit Cruise Ship MV Hondius Docks in Rotterdam for Quarantine
News|HealthHantavirus-hit cruise ship docks in the Netherlands
MV Hondius was carrying 25 crew members and two medical personnel as it reached the Dutch port of Rotterdam.
The hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius sails off the Dutch coast as it approaches Rotterdam on May 18, 2026 [Nicolas Tucat/AFP]
A cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has docked in the Netherlands for disinfection.
The MV Hondius was carrying 25 crew members and two medical personnel as it reached the Dutch port of Rotterdam on Monday, after all the passengers disembarked at other locations. According to the ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions, no one on board is experiencing any symptoms.
A short distance from where the ship docked, authorities had set up white containers along the water. The crew will enter immediate quarantine, with those who cannot be immediately repatriated spending their time in quarantine in these containers.
Three passengers of the ship died, including a Dutch couple who health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.
The MV Hondius has spent the past six days sailing from the Canary Islands, where the remaining passengers were evacuated and boarded flights to more than 20 countries to enter quarantine.
There were at least 11 cases of infection on the ship, nine of which have been confirmed.
The Public Health Agency of Canada said one of the four Canadians in isolation after leaving the ship had tested positive on Sunday. It said it would share information on the case with the World Health Organization (WHO).
Late Sunday, the WHO said it was maintaining its assessment of the hantavirus outbreak as “low risk”.
“While additional cases may still occur among passengers and crew members exposed before containment measures were implemented, the risk of onward transmission is expected to be reduced following disembarkation and the implementation of control measures,” it said.
Crew members who are unable to return home will be quarantined in the Netherlands, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport said last week. Some two dozen passengers and crew members have already been in quarantine in the Netherlands after arriving in the country on different flights in the last two weeks.
After everyone on board has disembarked, the ship will be decontaminated based on Dutch public health guidelines.
“Personal protective measures are being taken to ensure that the cleaners do not need to quarantine after the cleaning,” the Health Ministry said in a letter to the Dutch parliament last week.
Public health officials will inspect the ship before it is allowed to sail again. The hantavirus outbreak on Hondius is the first known case on a cruise ship.
France’s Pasteur Institute said on Saturday it has fully sequenced the Andes virus detected in a French passenger from the Hondius and found that it matched viruses already known in South America, with no evidence so far of new characteristics that would make it more transmissible or more dangerous.