Hantavirus threat: Canary Islands braces for arrival of luxury Dutch cruise after evacuation
3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: May 7, 2026 01:39 PM IST
The Hantavirus-hit luxury Dutch cruise ship has departed Cape Verde after evacuating three infected people in Europe.
Two of these patients were disembarked from the MV Hondius in the Netherlands on Wednesday after they exhibited acute symptoms of Hantavirus. They arrived at Amsterdam airport and were taken to separate hospitals where they are now being treated.
The third passenger, who was evacuated on a separate flight, is in stable condition.
Where is the ship headed, and how much is the risk?
The vessel, with around 150 on board, is now headed to Spain’s Canary Islands, where it is likely to dock for about three days and undergo more evacuations. Island’s president Fernando Clavijo, however, expressed his concerns around the deadly virus, and said the threat to the Canarian population is “very real” . Worried about the risk to the public, Clavijo demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
However, the Spanish government insisted that there is no risk. Their journey to the Canary Islands will take three or four days, Spain’s health ministry said. Their arrival “won´t represent any risk for the public,” the ministry said. Still, the Canary Islands regional president, Fernando Clavijo, said he worried about the risk to the public and demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
How many cases?
The virus has killed three people on the ship so far. Of the eight recorded cases, five were confirmed to be Hantavirus by laboratory testing.
People have been ordered to stay in the cabin while the medical staff come on board. They are wearing protective gear, testing the outbreak, and handling it. The local authorities in Cape Verde declared that disembarkation was allowed only to implement quarantine to prevent the spread of the emergency.
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Monitoring of potential infections in US
Residents of three states in the US were being monitored for potential Hantavirus infections after they deboarded the cruise ship that saw the deadly Hantavirus outbreak. However, none of these people across Georgia, California, and Arizona have shown signs of illness, US officials said.
What WHO said
The World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted the fact that the outbreak is still very much a rarity and the virus is still mainly contained; therefore, the overall risk to the general public is considered to be low. On the other hand, this unusual pattern of transmission and high fatality makes the situation being monitored intensively.
— with inputs Reuters, BBC, and New York Times
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