No sign of larger hantavirus outbreak, says UN health agency

# No sign of larger hantavirus outbreak, says UN health agency [Skip to content]( Advertisement [Watch Live]( []( Subscribe [Sign In]( * [Home]( * [News]( * [Sport]( * [Business]( * [Technology]( * [Health]( * [Culture]( * [Arts]( * [Travel]( * [Earth]( * [Audio]( * [Video]( * [Live]( * [Documentaries]( [Home]( News [Sport]( Business Technology [Health]( Culture Arts Travel Earth Audio Video Live Documentaries [Weather]( [Newsletters]( [Watch Live]( Advertisement # No sign of larger hantavirus outbreak, says UN health agency 3 hours ago Share Save [Add as preferred on Google]( Jaroslav Lukiv Andres Gutierrez/Anadolu via Getty Images The first passengers from the MV Hondius depart for Tenerife Airport on 10 May There is "no sign" of a larger hantavirus outbreak after the evacuation of the last passengers from a disease-stricken cruise ship, the head of the UN health agency has said. But the World Health Organization's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned "the situation could change" and there could still be more confirmed virus cases. The MV Hondius left Spain's Tenerife island on Monday and is sailing to the Dutch port of Rotterdam. Two flights with the final group of 28 passengers landed in nearby Eindhoven on Tuesday. Three people have died after travelling on the ship. An American and a French national who previously returned home have tested positive. Overall, seven cases have been confirmed. Twelve employees at a Dutch hospital are now in quarantine over possible exposure to the virus after treating one of the evacuated passengers. The hospital in the city of Nijmegen said on Monday this was a precautionary measure, as the workers did not follow strict protocols while handling the patient's blood and urine samples. At Tuesday's press conference in Madrid, Ghebreyesus said: "At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak. "But of course the situation could change and, given the long incubation period of the virus, it's possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks." Advertisement And he stressed that "our work is not over" to contain the outbreak from the cruise ship. [Hantaviruses are usually carried by rodents,]( human transmission of the Andes strain - which the World Health Organization (WHO) believes some of the ship's passengers contracted in South America - is possible. Symptoms can include fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and shortness of breath. WHO officials previously said the risk of a major outbreak is very low. ## [How worried should we be about hantavirus?]( ## [How are countries responding to hantavirus?]( ## [Tourist hotspot at 'end of the world' denies causing hantavirus outbreak]( ## [Hantavirus testing of UK passengers well under way, health officials say]( The Dutch-flagged vessel is expected to take six days to sail to Rotterdam and provisionally arrive on the evening of 17 May. Exact procedures upon arrival remain under discussion, the ship's operator Oceanwide Expedition said, but the vessel will undergo sanitation. The final six passengers - four Australians, one Briton and one New Zealander - and some crew members left the ship on Monday. Overall, 122 passengers and crew of the MV Hondius have been repatriated to the Netherlands and their home countries on government-chartered flights over the past few days. As of Monday evening, Oceanwide Expeditions said 27 people remained on board the ship - 25 crew members and two medical staff. These included 17 people from the Philippines, four from the Netherlands (including the two medical staff), four from Ukraine, one from Russia and one from Poland. Ukraine's foreign ministry said the Ukrainians on board would help with the ship's transfer to the Netherlands and would quarantine at a medical facility on arrival. It added that they had shown no signs of illness. Seventeen Filipino crew members arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday morning, according to the Philippine Embassy. Spain's health ministry earlier said one Spaniard who is quarantining in Madrid after being evacuated from the vessel had also provisionally tested positive for hantavirus on Monday. French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist said a woman was isolating in Paris and that her health was deteriorating, with 22 contacts being traced. In a separate development, the US health department said a second American national on Sunday's repatriation flight had also shown mild symptoms, adding that both passengers had travelled back in "biocontainment units out of an abundance of caution". Two British nationals with confirmed cases are currently being treated in the Netherlands and South Africa. An elderly Dutch man was the first passenger who died on board the MV Hondius on 11 April. He had earlier developed symptoms and is believed to have been the first infected in the outbreak, but died before he could be tested. His wife left the ship on 24 April on the island of St Helena and flew to South Africa. She died two days later in a clinic in Johannesburg. A German woman died on board the cruise ship on 2 May. Both women were confirmed cases. The MV Hondius had been carrying 147 passengers and crew from 23 countries after departing from Ushuaia in Argentina on 1 April. ## [British passengers from hantavirus-hit cruise ship isolating in hospital]( ## [Army parachutes onto remote island to help Briton with suspected hantavirus]( [Netherlands]( [Spain]( [Canary Islands]( [Cruise ships]( * * * Related ## [Women's T20 World Cup 2026 squads]( ## [Portrait looted by Nazis found in home of Dutch SS leader's descendants]( ## [Amsterdam bans public adverts for meat and fossil fuels]( * * * More from the BBC [2 hrs ago ## Hantavirus testing of UK passengers well under way, health officials say Passengers self-isolating in Merseyside remain "healthy and asymptomatic", the UK's health security agency has said. 2 hrs ago]( [3 hrs ago ## How worried should we be about hantavirus? Passengers potentially exposed to hantavirus are being repatriated, so what is the risk to the wider public? 3 hrs ago]( [3 hrs ago ## US passengers of hantavirus cruise ship being monitored in Nebraska Two people are being monitored in Atlanta, 16 in Nebraska and another six passengers in Canada. 3 hrs ago]( [7 hrs ago ## Last passengers leave virus-hit cruise ship as three more test positive An American and a French national who have returned home have tested positive for hantavirus. 7 hrs ago]( [11 hrs ago ## What comes next for US and Canada passengers evacuated from hantavirus-hit cruise ship After being flown to a medical centre in Nebraska, some Americans will be allowed to "self-isolate" in their home states. 11 hrs ago]( * * * []( * [Home]( * [News]( * [Sport]( * [Business]( * [Technology]( * [Health]( * [Culture]( * [Arts]( * [Travel]( * [Earth]( * [Audio]( * [Video]( * [Live]( * [Documentaries]( * [Weather]( * [BBC Shop]( * [BritBox]( BBC in other languages ### The BBC is in multiple languages #### Read the BBC In your own language [Oduu Afaan Oromootiin]( [Amharic ዜና በአማርኛ]( [Arabic عربي]( [Azeri AZƏRBAYCAN]( [Bangla বাংলা]( [Burmese မြန်မာ]( [Chinese 中文网]( [Dari دری]( [French AFRIQUE]( [Hausa HAUSA]( [Hindi हिन्दी]( [Gaelic NAIDHEACHDAN]( [Gujarati ગુજરાતીમાં સમાચાર]( [Igbo AKỤKỌ N’IGBO]( [Indonesian INDONESIA]( [Japanese 日本語]( [Kinyarwanda GAHUZA]( [Kirundi KIRUNDI]( [Korean 한국어]( [Kyrgyz Кыргыз]( [Marathi मराठी]( [Nepali नेपाली]( [Noticias para hispanoparlantes]( [Pashto پښتو]( [Persian فارسی]( [Pidgin]( [Polish PO POLSKU]( [Portuguese BRASIL]( [Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਖ਼ਬਰਾਂ]( [Russian НА РУССКОМ]( [Serbian NA SRPSKOM]( [Sinhala සිංහල]( [Somali SOMALI]( [Swahili HABARI KWA KISWAHILI]( [Tamil தமிழில் செய்திகள்]( [Telugu తెలుగు వార్తలు]( [Thai ข่าวภาษาไทย]( [Tigrinya ዜና ብትግርኛ]( [Turkish TÜRKÇE]( [Ukrainian УКРАЇНСЬКA]( [Urdu اردو]( [Uzbek O'ZBEK]( [Vietnamese TIẾNG VIỆT]( [Welsh NEWYDDION]( [Yoruba ÌRÒYÌN NÍ YORÙBÁ]( Follow BBC on: * [Terms of Use]( * [Subscription Terms]( * [About the BBC]( * [Privacy Policy]( * [Cookies]( * [Accessibility Help]( * [Contact the BBC]( * [Advertise with us]( * [Do not share or sell my info]( * [BBC.com Help & FAQs]( * [Content Index]( * [Set Preferred Source]( Copyright 2026 BBC. 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