Spain confirmed it had implemented all necessary measures to prevent the spread of hantavirus following the evacuation of 94 passengers and crew from the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius in the Canary Islands. The cruise ship had been at the centre of an international alert after three passengers died. The evacuees, representing 19 nationalities, were transported under medical supervision from the ship to an airport on Tenerife after thorough sanitary checks.
French and US health authorities each reported a positive hantavirus case among their evacuees. The Spanish health ministry stated the French national began showing symptoms during the flight, not while aboard the ship. The US citizen who tested positive did not display symptoms during the stop in Cape Verde prior to arrival in the Canaries. US authorities classified the case as positive and requested a separate evacuation, which was conducted via a different boat.
Two additional repatriation flights to Australia and the Netherlands are scheduled for Monday to evacuate the remaining passengers. The MV Hondius is set to depart for the Netherlands at 7:00 pm local time (1800 GMT) with a skeleton crew after refuelling. Spanish minister Angel Victor Torres said most evacuations would be completed as planned, with only a few Dutch and Australian citizens remaining.
Hantavirus, which spreads primarily among rodents, has no available vaccine or specific treatment. Health officials maintain the global public health risk is low and have rejected comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Argentine Health Ministry released a photo on May 6, 2026, showing a scientist from the Malbrán Institute handling a diagnostic container for the Andes hantavirus in Buenos Aires.
Spain insists all preventive steps were taken even as French and US evacuees tested positive for hantavirus after leaving the MV Hondius. The timing of symptom onset in the French case—during the flight—raises questions about when monitoring began. If the US case showed no symptoms in Cape Verde but was still treated as positive, it suggests the criteria for infection are unclear. Passengers from 19 countries were moved under strict protocols, yet the virus still left the ship undetected by Spanish screening.
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