Rotterdam, Netherlands – Cruise ship hit by outbreak of deadly hantavirus stopped in the Dutch port of Rotterdam to be disinfected, capping a troubled journey that has put health authorities around the world on alert.
The MV Hondius was carrying 25 crew members and two medics as it arrived in Rotterdam on Monday morning, after all passengers had disembarked elsewhere. According to ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions, no one on board is experiencing any symptoms.
Passengers were seen wearing face masks on deck as the boat was escorted into port by a tugboat and a Dutch police boat. The authorities said the workers will go into custody immediately.
Omar Havana / Getty Images
When the incident broke out, three passengers on board died, including a Dutch couple who health officials believe were the first to be exposed to the virus, while visiting South America.
MV Hondius has spent the last six days sailing in the Canary Islands, where the remaining passengers were escorted the ship is crewed in full body armor and boarded flights to more than 20 countries to enter alone.
The outbreak on the ship has reached at least 11 cases, nine of which have been confirmed.
The Public Health Agency of Canada said one of the four Canadians in isolation after leaving the ship tested positive for HIV on Sunday and will share information about the case with the World Health Organization.
Members of the group who cannot return home will be quarantined in the Netherlands, the Dutch health ministry said last week. About two dozen other passengers and crew are now in isolation in the Netherlands after arriving in the country on a series of flights two weeks ago.
Eighteen Americans are under surveillance in specialized health facilities in the United States designed to treat people with serious infectious diseases.
The World Health Organization emphasized that the outbreak was not a duplicate of COVID and that the infection was extremely rare.
The outbreak was the first known to have occurred on board a ship.
However, the virus has an incubation period of several weeks, meaning more cases from cruise passengers could emerge in the future, Tedros warned.
After everyone on board has disembarked, the ship will be decontaminated based on Dutch public health guidelines. “Precautions are being taken to ensure that cleaners do not need to stay in isolation after 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 depart again.
The Dutch company that owns the cruise ship said it sees no changes in its operations. It has an Arctic cruise from Keflavik, Iceland, on May 29.
France’s Pasteur Institute said on Saturday it had fully traced the Andes virus found in a French passenger from the MV Hondius cruise ship and found to be compatible with viruses already known in South Americawith no evidence so far of new symptoms that would make it more transmissible or more dangerous.
