First Evacuated Passengers from Hantavirus Cruise Ship Arrive in Their Home Countries

(SeaPRwire) –   The initial group of passengers from a cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak reached their home nations on Sunday, having left the vessel earlier that day. 

The first batch was observed wearing personal protective gear—including face masks, hazmat suits, and respirators—as a small boat ferried them to land at approximately 9:30 a.m. They were then transported to Tenerife Airport. Spain’s Health Ministry noted that none of the first disembarking group showed signs of the virus.

Flights carrying Spanish and French citizens landed in Madrid and Paris, respectively, on Sunday. A subsequent flight bound for the Netherlands—carrying German, Belgian, and Greek nationals—was set to depart next, with additional flights to the U.K., Canada, Turkey, Ireland, and the U.S. to follow. 

Thirty crew members will stay on the ship as it travels back to the Netherlands to undergo disinfection.

Since the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius left Argentina, six confirmed hantavirus cases, two suspected cases, and three passenger deaths have been associated with the ship’s outbreak.

The ship is anchored off the coast of the Canary Islands. There, passengers from various countries were transported to Tenerife Airport via military vehicles and sent to their home nations, with measures in place to avoid public contact. Upon returning home, they will probably be taken to isolation centers for health monitoring by medical personnel.

The virus is usually linked to rodents, but it might have spread between humans on the ship, per the World Health Organization (WHO). WHO officials stated on Sunday that the public risk remains “low,” despite the Canary Islands’ president opposing the ship’s docking due to concerns about infection risk and possible damage to the tourism sector.

“So the public shouldn’t be afraid or panic,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on Sunday. Officials also noted that quarantine must continue in each passenger’s home country to prevent the disease from spreading.

“The Andes virus has a lengthy incubation period, and we can’t be certain they won’t develop symptoms unless they complete the 42-day observation period,” Diana Rojas, head of high-impact diseases, told the press.

 U.S. States Gear Up for Returning Passengers

Seven U.S. states are currently getting ready for the arrival of 17 Americans who were on the ship. These individuals will first land at the National Quarantine Unit—located on the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus in Omaha—which is the only federally funded quarantine facility in the U.S. and is built to monitor people exposed to “high-consequence infectious diseases.”

“We are fully prepared for scenarios just like this,” Michael Ash, CEO of Nebraska Medicine, stated in a Friday release. “The public should know these facilities were purpose-built to prevent exposure to the community. There is no risk to local residents from those being cared for in these units.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in a Friday statement that it dispatched a team of epidemiologists and medical experts to meet returning Americans and evaluate them prior to their flight to Nebraska.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director and acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya told CNN’s “State of the Union” that travelers will be evaluated at the facility based on their risk level and offered the option to stay in Nebraska if they wish. If conditions permit, the state could safely transport them home without exposing others en route, after which they would be placed under the supervision of their state and local public health agencies.

Bhattacharya stressed that this situation is not as serious as the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t want to trigger public panic,” he said. “We intend to handle this using our hantavirus protocols, which have effectively contained past outbreaks.”