Spain readies for evacuations as a hantavirus-hit cruise ship heads for Canary Islands

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. World Spain readies for evacuations as a hantavirus-hit cruise ship heads for Canary Islands May 8, 20265:29 AM ET By The Associated Press Health workers in protective gear arrive to evacuate patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. Misper Apawu/AP hide caption toggle caption Misper Apawu/AP MADRID — Spanish authorities on Friday were preparing to receive more than 140 passengers and crew members on board a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship headed for the Canary Islands, where health officials have said they will perform careful evacuations. The vessel is expected to reach the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, on Saturday or Sunday.

Global Health Is hantavirus the next COVID? An outbreak update "They will arrive at a completely isolated, cordoned-off area," said Virginia Barcones, Spain's head of emergency services, on Thursday. The MV Hondius is a Dutch-flagged vessel and Dutch officials said Friday they were also in close contact with the ship's owner and authorities of countries whose citizens are on board.

The Details

The United States has agreed to send a plane to the Canary Islands to repatriate its 17 citizens from the cruise ship, Barcones said. The British government also said it will charter a plane to evacuate the nearly two dozen British citizens onboard. Sponsor Message At least three passengers have died, and several other people are sick.

The World Health Organization considers the risk to the wider public from the outbreak as low. Hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and isn't easily transmitted between people. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.

None of the remaining passengers or crew on the ship is currently symptomatic, the Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions cruise ship company said Thursday. Global Health Hantavirus on cruise ship confirmed as rare type that can spread human-to-human Countries scramble to track passengers who disembarked Health authorities across four continents were continuing to track down and monitor passengers who disembarked the ship before the deadly outbreak was detected. They are also trying to trace others who may have come into contact with them since then.

What Experts Say

On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, the ship's operator and Dutch officials said Thursday. It wasn't until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a ship passenger, the World Health Organization said. The WHO confirmed Friday that a flight attendant on a plane briefly boarded by an infected cruise passenger in South Africa had tested negative for hantavirus.

Sponsor Message The KLM flight attendant was working on a flight headed from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25 and had later fallen ill.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.