Nationals from several countries are to be evacuated by plane to a cruise ship bound for the Spanish island of Tenerife hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, where six people have been confirmed to have the Andean strain of hantavirus.
The MV Hondius will be anchored near Tenerife from 3pm to 5pm GMT and 10pm to midnight ET on Sunday.
At a World Health Organization briefing on May 9, Dr. Maria van Kerkhove, WHO’s acting director of epidemic and pandemic management, outlined plans for the next 24 to 48 hours.
She explained that once the boat docks, there will be a small boat that will dock passengers in groups for health screening.
“If anyone develops symptoms, those with symptoms will be immediately placed on a medical evacuation plane and taken to the Netherlands for treatment,” Van Kerkhove said. “Those who are healthy and energetic will return home on separate planes provided by each country.”
Repatriation flights to Americans and other countries amid hantavirus outbreak
The U.S. State Department said it is arranging repatriation flights for Americans who were on a cruise ship at the epicenter of the hantavirus outbreak. Spain’s interior minister announced on Saturday that planes would arrive from Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands for the remaining European citizens, as well as two planes from the European Union.
Spain’s interior minister said the US and UK have confirmed that flights and contingency plans are being arranged for non-EU nationals who cannot be transported by air.
Residents of several countries, including the United States, were monitored after disembarking from the Hondius. Three people have died in connection with the outbreak.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said U.S. health officials are “actively monitoring and responding to hantavirus outbreaks” associated with cruise ships. “At this time, the risk to the American public remains extremely low,” the agency said.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of the World Health Organization said he would personally help oversee the ship’s disembarkation.
The director-general announced his arrival in Spain in a social media post on May 9.
“I will be participating in a mission to Tenerife with senior government officials to oversee the safe disembarkation of the passengers, crew and health experts of the MV Hondius cruise ship,” he wrote. “In the meantime, I have been in direct contact with Captain Jan Dobrogovski and my @WHO colleague on board Dr. Fredi Banza Mutka, who have informed me that at this stage there are no further individuals on board exhibiting symptoms of hantavirus.”
Where do American passengers go once they return to the United States?
The Americans were evacuated to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, and from there transferred to the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, CDC officials announced in an update late Friday.
“The U.S. government’s top priority is the safe return of American passengers,” the release said.
Once the ship docks in the Canary Islands, a team of epidemiologists and medical experts from the CDC will “conduct an exposure risk assessment for each U.S. passenger and provide recommendations regarding the level of surveillance needed,” the release continued. “Additional CDC teams will be sent to Offutt Air Force Base to assist with public health assessments of returning passengers.”
Which states are monitoring cruise passengers for hantavirus?
As USA TODAY previously reported, authorities in several states confirmed they are monitoring residents who recently boarded the MV Hondius for symptoms of hantavirus. So far, authorities in one state, New Jersey, are monitoring two people who were not on the boat but may have been infected.
- arizona: Magda Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Health Services, said in an email to The Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, that one of the state’s residents was a recent passenger on the ship, but has no symptoms and is being monitored.
- California: The resident was recently on a ship with other passengers infected with hantavirus, but there are no signs of illness, California Department of Public Health spokesperson Grant Boyken confirmed in an email to Desert Sun, part of the USA TODAY Network.
- georgia: The two residents who traveled on the MV Hondius are “currently in good health and have no signs of infection,” the Georgia Department of Public Health said in a May 6 statement to USA TODAY.
- new jersey: Two people living in the state may have been infected by a person infected with hantavirus who departed from MV Hondius. The residents were not passengers on the cruise ship. The potential exposure occurred during air travel. The state health department announced on May 8 that the two people had no symptoms.
- texas:The two residents were passengers on the ship and returned to the United States before the outbreak was confirmed. The state health department said they are not showing any symptoms.
- virginia: One resident returned home from the ship is in good health and is being monitored, Virginia Department of Health spokeswoman Maria Leppas told USA TODAY on May 7.
CDC issues health alert
On May 8, the CDC issued a warning to the Health Alert Network (HAN) to “inform clinicians and health departments about an emerging cluster of hantavirus infections caused by infection with the Andes virus,” an action that infectious disease experts say should have been taken sooner.
“Clinicians should be aware of the possibility of imported cases, but the risk of widespread spread to the United States is considered extremely low at this time,” the warning added. “As a precautionary measure, this health advisory summarizes CDC’s recommendations for U.S. public health agencies, clinical laboratories, and health care providers regarding hantavirus disease case identification, testing, and biosafety considerations in clinical laboratories.”
In a May 7 media briefing, Dr. Gene Marazzo, CEO of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said HAN is defined by the CDC as the CDC’s “primary method for sharing clear information about urgent public health events.”
“The last HAN on that page is from April 2, 2026, so to me this is not an exaggeration. It’s a travesty in terms of the NIH response,” she said.
“A lot of the things you want to see, we’re not seeing, and to me, that’s very concerning,” Dr. Carlos Del Rio, a professor at Emory University School of Medicine, said during a briefing. “The silence of our leading public health institutions is deeply disturbing to me.”
Contributed by: Reuters; Eve Chen, Natalie Neisa Alland, Janine Santucci, Melina Khan, USA TODAY
