Complete timeline for the MV Hondius cruise-linked hantavirus cluster, including WHO notices, confirmed cases, deaths, repatriation, isolation, and contact tracing.
COMPLETE TIMELINE
The homepage shows only the latest events. This page keeps the full archive so older vessel-route, case-confirmation, WHO, and repatriation details remain available without lengthening the tracker landing page.
A French passenger evacuated to Paris tests positive and is reported in serious condition. A US passenger flown to Nebraska tests positive for Andes virus but is asymptomatic; another American has mild symptoms. WHO-linked public-health advice continues to emphasize 42 days of active follow-up after last exposure.
A repatriation flight brings 20 British passengers plus two additional residents or travellers to Manchester. They enter isolation and medical assessment at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral after testing negative before departure from Tenerife.
The vessel reaches the Canary Islands in the early hours of Sunday. Passengers begin disembarking in small groups after screening, with Spanish passengers moved first and repatriation flights planned for the UK, US, Canada, Turkey, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Australia. Isolation or monitoring continues for 42 days after last exposure.
CDC dispatches staff to meet American passengers at Tenerife and escort them on a charter flight to the US. Nebraska Medicine's National Quarantine Unit — a federally funded facility — is standing by. All ~17 Americans on board are reported well with no symptoms.
Spain's health agency approves the MV Hondius docking at Granadilla, Tenerife, citing international law and humanitarian principles — overriding the Canary Islands president who had declared the ship unwelcome. Vessel expected to arrive early May 10.
WHO updates the formal outbreak notice to eight cases: six laboratory-confirmed Andes virus infections and two probable cases, including three deaths. Four patients are hospitalised in South Africa, the Netherlands, and Switzerland; global risk remains low while risk for passengers and crew is assessed as moderate.
A KLM flight attendant hospitalised with suspected hantavirus — after close contact with the Dutch woman who died on the April 26 Johannesburg–Amsterdam flight — tests negative. WHO notes the long incubation period means further testing remains necessary.
WHO reports eight cases (five confirmed, three suspected at that point) and three deaths. Risk to the general public is assessed as low. 2,500 diagnostic kits dispatched from Argentina to labs in five countries.
Three patients — including the ship's doctor — evacuated from the vessel in Cape Verde for specialist care. A British national in Johannesburg ICU is reported improving.
South Africa's NICD confirms the Andes hantavirus strain in two passengers — the only hantavirus strain known to spread human-to-human, albeit rarely.
Switzerland confirms a male passenger treated in Zurich. MV Hondius departs Cape Verde at 19:15 CET, sailing for Granadilla, Tenerife. Canary Islands had previously refused docking.
WHO DON599 describes seven cases — two confirmed, five suspected — and three deaths as of May 4. Vessel moored off Praia, Cape Verde while health teams evaluate patients.
MV Hondius anchors off Praia. International health teams board to assess passengers, collect specimens, and begin contact-tracing of 147 passengers and crew from 23 nationalities.
A German woman dies on board. The same day, the UK notifies WHO of a cluster of severe acute respiratory illness including two deaths and one critically ill passenger.
UK formally notifies WHO. South Africa's NICD confirms hantavirus via PCR in the Dutch woman who died on April 26. A British national remains in Johannesburg ICU in critical but stable condition.
Wife of the index case, who had disembarked at Saint Helena, collapses on an Airlink flight to Johannesburg and dies on arrival. WHO begins tracing 82 passengers and 6 crew from the same flight.
Vessel stops at Saint Helena. Thirty guests disembark. The deceased index case's wife, showing gastrointestinal symptoms, also leaves the ship. Another ill passenger is medically evacuated to South Africa.
A Dutch national — the index case — dies aboard the vessel. Cause of death cannot be determined on board. Remains are held on Saint Helena pending repatriation.
MV Hondius departs Ushuaia for an Antarctic and South Atlantic wildlife expedition. WHO later reports that 147 passengers and crew were onboard when the cluster was notified on May 2, with 34 people having previously disembarked.