Cruise ship at center of hantavirus outbreak docks in the Netherlands
The MV Hondius, the cruise ship at the center of the deadly hantavirus outbreak, arrived at the port city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands Monday morning. The ship spent the past six days traveling from the Spanish Canary Islands, where health officials escorted remaining passengers off the ship and sent them back to their home countries for quarantine.
Officials say the crew members and medical staff still on board will leave the ship in stages before the Hondius undergoes a thorough cleaning and disinfection process.
“Currently, all the crew members aboard, there are still 25 people aboard, and this nurse and a doctor, and they all are free of any symptoms,” Yvonnes van Duijnhove, the director of the regional public health service GGD Rotterdam-Rijnmond, said.
René de Vries, the port’s harbor master, said the crew will enter immediate quarantine. Those who can’t be repatriated will quarantine in temporary dwellings with satellite internet and catering, he added.
De Vries told the Associated Press that the port’s health authorities would work with the Erasmus Medical Center and the city of Rotterdam to safely disinfect the ship.
Van Duijnhoven said crew members were tested for hantavirus upon their arrival and will be tested weekly for the duration of their quarantine.
New case reported
So far, there have been nine laboratory-confirmed cases among cruise ship passengers, as well as two suspected cases. Three passengers have died, including the Dutch couple health officials believe were the first to contract the virus during a visit to South America before boarding the ship.
On Saturday, Canadian health officials announced a passenger who was on board the ship has tested positive for hantavirus and remains hospitalized in isolation. They said the passenger’s travel companion reported mild symptoms but tested negative for the virus.
It can take up to six weeks for the virus to show up.
Hondius will set sail again
Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch company that owns the MV Hondius, said it expects to continue operating as usual. It has an Arctic cruise setting sail from Keflavik, Iceland, on May 29, according to the Associated Press.
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