MADRID, May 11 — An American citizen and a French woman evacuated from the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak have tested positive, officials said, as the repatriation operation continued today. 

Following the positive test results, Spain defended the rigour of its sanitary measures during the complex evacuation yesterday of 94 people of 19 different nationalities from the MV Hondius, which is moored in the Canary Islands.

The Dutch-flagged vessel has been at the centre of global concern after three passengers died following an outbreak of the rare virus, which usually spreads among rodents and for which no cure exists.

Health officials have insisted that the risk to global public health is rare and dismissed comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The French woman, one of five evacuees from France placed in isolation in Paris, started to feel unwell on Sunday night, and “tests came back positive”, Health Minister Stephanie Rist said today. 

The US health department said one American national evacuated from the ship had “mild symptoms” and that another had tested positive for the Andes virus, the only hantavirus strain that is transmissible between humans.

Spain’s health ministry said “all measures” had been taken to stop the virus spreading during the evacuations, in which medical teams escorted passengers from the ship to an airport on the island of Tenerife under close supervision and following health checks.

It said the French patient “started to feel unwell during the flight and not while she was on the ship”.

The US citizen who tested positive “did not show symptoms when they were in Cape Verde”, where the MV Hondius stopped before reaching the Canary Islands, the ministry said.

“However, the US authorities have decided to treat the case as positive. For that reason, they requested a separate evacuation, which was carried out in a separate boat.”

Final flights to leave 

In all, eight cases have been confirmed in the outbreak, and two more are listed as “probable”, according to the World Health Organization and national health authorities, with citizens of six countries affected.

Other suspected cases and potential close contacts with infected people are being investigated, with health authorities in several countries tracking passengers who had already disembarked from the ship, plus anyone who may have come into contact with them.

Rist said 22 more close contacts had been identified among French nationals, including eight people who had travelled on an April 25 flight between Saint Helena and Johannesburg, and 14 more on a flight between Johannesburg and Amsterdam.

A Dutch woman passenger of the MV Hondius who died of hantavirus was on the flight to Johannesburg and later briefly boarded a flight to Amsterdam but was removed before take-off.

Two more repatriation flights to Australia and the Netherlands are planned on Monday to complete the evacuation of most of the ship’s almost 150 passengers and crew.

After refuelling, the ship is scheduled to leave Tenerife for the Netherlands at 7 pm with a skeleton crew.

“There are still some citizens from the Netherlands and Australia, and hopefully we can even finish before the scheduled time,” Spanish minister Angel Victor Torres told public radio RNE.

The MV Hondius left Argentina, where hantavirus is endemic, on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde.

The World Health Organization believes the first infection occurred before the start of the voyage, followed by transmission between humans on board the vessel.

But Argentine health officials have questioned whether the outbreak originated in Ushuaia, based on the virus’s weeks-long incubation period and other factors.— AFP

GRANADILLA DE ABONA (Spain), May 11 — A complex day-long operation to repatriate occupants of a cruise ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak neared completion late yesterday after 94 people of various nationalities were flown home from Spain’s Canary Islands.

Three passengers from the MV Hondius — a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman — have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.

No vaccines or specific treatments exist for hantavirus, which is endemic in Argentina, where the ship departed in April.

But health officials have stressed that the risk for global public health is low and played down comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The operation evacuated 94 people of 19 different nationalities yesterday, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia announced on the island of Tenerife after what she called a “pretty intense” day.

Spanish officials said the evacuation of most of the ship’s nearly 150 passengers and crew, which include 23 nationalities, would continue until the final repatriation flights to Australia and the Netherlands this afternoon.

The ship will refuel in the morning and is expected to depart for the Netherlands with around 30 crew at 7pm (1800 GMT/2am Malaysian time today) today.

Passengers wearing a blue protective suits board a military bus after being evacuated from the Dutch flagged hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the industrial port of Granadilla de Abona on the island of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands on May 10, 2026. — AFP pic

Yesterday, passengers wearing blue medical suits began disembarking the Dutch-flagged vessel onto smaller boats to reach the small industrial port of Granadilla on Tenerife, AFP journalists saw.

The evacuees then boarded Spanish army buses and travelled to Tenerife South airport in a convoy, with a protective board separating the driver from the passengers.

The evacuees changed into new protective equipment before boarding their repatriation flights.

“Everything is going well,” French evacuee Roland Seitre told AFP just before taking off, saying “everyone was great” during the disembarkation.

A plane bound for the UK carrying passengers evacuated from the Dutch flagged hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius leaves the Tenerife Sur-Reina Sofia airport on the island of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands on May 10, 2026. — AFP pic

Race against time 

A plane arrived in the Netherlands with dozens of people, including Belgian, Greek, German, Guatemalan and Argentine citizens, while flights for Canadian, Turkish, British, Irish and US nationals also left.

Canary Islands authorities have warned that the operation must be completed by today, when adverse weather conditions will force the ship to leave.

The Atlantic archipelago’s regional government has consistently resisted taking in the ship, which was only authorised to anchor offshore instead of docking in the port when it arrived early yesterday morning.

The central government has insisted there will be no contact with the population in Tenerife.

Garcia told reporters on Tenerife shortly before the operation began that all passengers were asymptomatic and underwent a final medical assessment before their disembarkation.

But one of five French people flown back to France was showing hantavirus symptoms, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu wrote on X, saying all those evacuees “have immediately been placed in strict isolation until further notice”.

The World Health Organisation recommends a 42-day quarantine and “active follow-up”, including daily checks for symptoms such as fever, the UN body’s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director, Maria Van Kerkhove, said in Geneva.

Greece’s health ministry said a Greek male evacuee would spend 45 days in mandatory hospital quarantine in Athens, while 14 Spanish citizens will also isolate at a military hospital in Madrid.

But a top US health official said American passengers will not necessarily be quarantined at a specialised centre in the state of Nebraska.

Depending on the estimated risk, passengers can choose to go home “without exposing other people on the way”, said Jay Bhattacharya, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was on Tenerife to help supervise the evacuations, said that policy “may have risks”.

Ambulances transporting French national passengers of the MV Hondius, where an outbreak of hantavirus has been detected, arrive at the Bichat hospital in Paris on May 10, 2026, after a plane repatriating them landed in Le Bourget airport, in the outskirts of Paris. — AFP pic

International concern 

The only hantavirus type that is transmissible between humans — the Andes virus — has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fuelling international concern.

The WHO said Friday it had confirmed six cases out of eight suspected ones.

The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde, where three infected people had been evacuated to Europe earlier in the week.

The WHO believes the first infection occurred before the start of the expedition, followed by transmission between humans onboard the vessel.

But Argentine provincial health official Juan Petrina has said there was an “almost zero chance” the Dutch man linked to the outbreak contracted the disease in Ushuaia based on the virus’s weeks-long incubation period, among other factors.

Health authorities in several countries have been tracking passengers who had already disembarked and anyone who may have come into contact with them. — AFP

MADRID, May 10 — A cruise ship hit with a deadly hantavirus outbreak is headed for Spain’s Canary Islands, where most of the nearly 150 people on board will be evacuated and flown home after weeks at sea.

The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius is expected to reach waters off Tenerife at dawn on today, where WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is due to help coordinate the ship’s evacuation.

Three passengers from the ship—a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman—have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.

The only hantavirus type that can transmit from person to person—the Andes virus—has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fuelling international concern.

“We classify everybody on board as what we call a high-risk contact,” WHO’s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director Maria Van Kerkhove said yesterday. 

But the risk to the general public and the people of the Canaries remained low, she added.

Tedros, who arrived in Spain yesterday, gave the same assurance and thanked the people of Tenerife for their “solidarity”.

“I need you to hear me clearly,” Tedros wrote in an open letter to the people of Tenerife on Saturday: “This is not another Covid.”

After arriving in Tenerife, he said he was confident the operation would be a success. “Spain is ready and prepared,” he told reporters.

At the port of Granadilla de Abona, AFP journalists saw white tents had been sent up along the quay and members of the civil guard had secured part of the port.

Despite the situation, daily life appeared largely normal: some people were swimming, others shopping at the market or sitting at cafe terraces.

“There are worries there could be a danger, but honestly I don’t see people being very concerned,” said David Parada, a lottery vendor.

Regional authorities have refused to allow the vessel to dock. Instead, it will remain offshore while passengers are screened and evacuated between Sunday and Monday—the only window health officials say the weather will allow.

Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said it expected the ship to arrive at 0430 GMT and that “all guests and a limited number of crew members are expected to begin to disembark... from around 8:00 am local time (0700 GMT).

“Once disembarked, they will be transferred immediately to their allocated aircraft.”

The WHO said Friday it had confirmed six cases out of eight suspected ones. There are no suspected cases remaining on the ship.

The MV Hondius is sailing from Cape Verde, where three infected people had already been evacuated earlier in the week.

Tracking and tracing 

In Madrid, Spain’s health and interior ministers insisted there would be “no contact” with the local population, and that passengers would leave “by nationality groups”.

“All areas (the passengers) pass through will be sealed off,” the interior minister said, adding a maritime exclusion zone would be in force around the vessel.

The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde.

Provincial health official Juan Petrina said there was an “almost zero chance” the Dutch man linked to the outbreak contracted the disease in Ushuaia based on the virus’s incubation period, among other factors.

Health authorities in several countries have been tracking passengers who had already disembarked and anyone who may have come into contact with them.

A flight attendant on the Dutch airline KLM, who came into contact with an infected passenger from the cruise ship and later showed mild symptoms, tested negative for hantavirus, the WHO said Friday.

The passenger—the wife of the first person to die in the outbreak—had briefly been on a plane bound from Johannesburg to the Netherlands on April 25, but was removed before take-off.

She died the following day in a Johannesburg hospital.

Spanish authorities said a woman on that flight was being tested for hantavirus, having developed symptoms at home in eastern Spain. She is in isolation in hospital, said health secretary Javier Padilla.

Two Singapore residents who had been on the ship tested negative for the disease but would remain in quarantine, the city state’s authorities said Friday.

British health authorities also said Friday there was a suspected case on Tristan da Cunha, one of the world’s most isolated settlements with around 220 people. — AFP