The expedition vessel MV Hondius arrived at the Canary Islands on May 10, 2026, carrying a group of passengers and crew who will undergo medical assessment and, for many, repatriation. After days anchored off Cape Verde, officials coordinated disembarkation plans intended to separate affected individuals from local communities and arrange flights back to home countries. Local and international agencies described the move as a controlled transfer that would allow clinicians to screen everyone on board and begin necessary quarantine or treatment steps.
Health authorities and the ship operator have emphasized caution while confirming that a number of people were medically evacuated to mainland hospitals in recent days. Among those flown to the Netherlands were three people reported by the operator as needing urgent care, two of whom were in serious condition when taken ashore. National and international bodies remain focused on ensuring safe transport and minimizing the chance of onward spread as further test results are processed.
Confirmed and suspected cases
The World Health Organization has reported a total of eight cases linked to the voyage so far, comprising three confirmed infections and five suspected ones. South African laboratories identified the Andes strain in two confirmed patients, a variant known to have transmitted between humans in prior outbreaks. Since the ship departed from Argentina, there have been three deaths connected to the voyage under investigation: one confirmed infection and two fatalities still being examined to determine whether hantavirus was the cause. Testing and laboratory work are ongoing to clarify those outcomes.
Repatriation and public health response
Repatriation logistics
National governments and the ship operator moved to repatriate travelers after arrival at Tenerife. Seventeen American passengers and one British resident of the U.S. were scheduled for a return flight that would take them to the federal quarantine unit in Omaha, Nebraska, overseen by Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Spain’s health minister stated that everyone arriving in Tenerife would receive a medical evaluation and that Spanish nationals would be sent to a defence hospital in Madrid for isolation if needed. Local political leaders expressed differing views on permitting the vessel to dock, underlining the sensitivity of the operation.
Monitoring and contact tracing
Authorities are tracing contacts linked to the voyage and monitoring passengers who disembarked earlier in different countries. U.S. health officials said none of the repatriated Americans had tested positive at the time of reporting, while state public health agencies in Georgia and Arizona confirmed they were following up on residents who sailed with the vessel and were asymptomatic. A man who disembarked and travelled to Switzerland tested positive and is receiving care in Zurich. National and international agencies continue to pursue flight- and ship-based contact investigations to identify potential chains of exposure.
Transmission risk and the road ahead
Experts stress that hantavirus transmission mechanisms differ from common respiratory illnesses. The WHO’s technical advisers noted that the way some variants spread requires close physical contact rather than casual proximity, and that the Andes lineage has shown human-to-human spread in prior outbreaks. Public health officials consider the risk to the wider public to be limited, but they underscore the need for rapid identification, testing and isolation of cases. Health agencies are also investigating reports of a KLM crew member admitted to hospital in Amsterdam after contact with a passenger who later died in South Africa.
Key next steps include completing laboratory confirmations, continuing active contact tracing, and managing the medical needs of those evacuated. Several individuals remain aboard under strict precautionary rules while authorities repatriate others to national facilities. Investigations will also look at the sequence of events that included a passenger stopping at St Helena on April 24, subsequent illness in South Africa and other movements, with the aim of understanding transmission pathways and preventing further spread.
