At least six cases of hantavirus have now been confirmed among the passengers on the cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak, the World Health Organisation said.
The lab results of the American who tested positive were inconclusive, WHO spokesperson Sarah Tyler said Monday.Earlier on Monday, the last remaining passenger disembarked and boarded flights to their home countries where they were quarantined.
The 20 British passengers, who were tested for hantavirus before getting on the flight on Sunday, have now been taken to isolate at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside upon their arrival at Manchester Airport.
Meanwhile, the director-general of World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that if the passengers had “stayed longer on the ship, the situation could have been difficult”.At least three passengers have died.
The ship's captain, Jan Dobrogowski, issued a video message Monday praising passengers and crew for their courage and perseverance, and he called for respect for their privacy.“I could not imagine sailing through these circumstances with a better group of people, guests and crew alike,” he said.
Read MoreArmy parachutes team onto remote island to help British suspected hantavirus case
American from hantavirus-hit cruise ship tests positive as passengers arrive in Nebraska
Britons evacuated from hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship return to UK
Australia to quarantine six people flying home from hantavirus cruise ship
Key Points
- Testing ‘well underway’ for cruise Britons isolating at UK hospital
- Three passengers, French and American, test positive for hantavirus
- Australia to repatriate passengers from Hantavirus-hit cruise ship
- Passengers from hantavirus-hit cruise ship arrive at UK isolation facility
- What happens now repatriation flight has landed in Manchester?
Passengers from virus-stricken cruise ship fly to home countries for monitoring
04:45 , Namita SinghThe last remaining passengers on a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak disembarked Monday and boarded flights to more than 20 countries to enter quarantine.
A French woman was the latest to be confirmed as infected, while an American was suspected of infection after initial testing.
Three cruise ship passengers have died, and six people with confirmed or suspected cases of hantavirus are being quarantined, according to the WHO. The lab results of the American who tested positive were inconclusive, WHO spokesperson Sarah Tyler said Monday.
Passengers began flying home aboard military and government planes Sunday after the MV Hondius anchored in the Canary Islands. Personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks escorted the travelers from ship to shore in Tenerife, an effort that concluded Monday.
In pictures: Passengers disembark from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship
04:30 , Rebecca Whittaker
UK Health Official announces contact tracing as cruise ship passengers enter 45-day isolation
03:30 , Rebecca WhittakerThe UK health officials have begin contact tracing for those in touch with British passengers and crew of the Hantavirus-striken MV Hondius.
Announcing the measure, Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Health Security Agency Professor Robin May told BBC Radio 4: “Contact tracing is still very much ongoing and we'll continue to do that over the next few weeks actually, particularly on stopover points of the cruise ship on islands and, and similar.”
It came as the evacuated and repatriated crew and passengers were put in isolation for 45 days.
Professor May, however, attempted to assure viewers about the spread of Hantavirus, saying it is not the same as Covid-19 pandemic.
Explaining the need for contact tracing measure, he said: “People these days travel a lot as we all know, so it's important to keep up with where they are, but at the minute we have reached out and contacted a huge number of people already, and again my thanks to them for participating in this.
“But yes... the number of people we're contacting may continue to rise over the coming days, but most people have already been contacted."
Experts say hantavirus cases unlikely to have started from Ushuaia trip
02:30 , Rebecca WhittakerHealth officials have said the deadly outbreak of hantavirus may have been caused by a Dutch couple contracting the illness during a bird-watching outing in Ushuaia, Argentina.
Two Argentine officials investigating the origins of the outbreak on the ship, which sailed from southern Argentina, said this is now the government’s leading hypothesis.
The couple visited a landfill site during the birdwatching tour, authorities said, where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.
However, locally not everyone agrees with this theory.
Authorities previously said that Ushuaia and the surrounding province of Tierra del Fuego had never recorded a case of the hantavirus.
Juan Facundo Petrina, the province's Director General of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, told the BBC there have been “no record of hantavirus cases in our history.”
He stressed that it is unlikely the virus came from his province and the endemic zone for hantavirus lies more than 1,500km (930 miles) to the north.
British man with hantavirus 'gradually improving'
01:30 , Rebecca WhittakerThe condition of a British man who was admitted to a hospital in Johannesburg after falling ill with hantavirus is gradually improving, a South African health ministry spokesperson said.
"The British patient is clinically improving but still ill," the spokesperson Foster Mohale said. "This means his condition is improving, gradually so."
The man was medically evacuated to South Africa on April 27 after presenting with a fever, shortness of breath and signs of pneumonia.
He disembarked from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius at Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean.
Testing ‘well underway’ for cruise Britons isolating at UK hospital
Tuesday 12 May 2026 00:33 , Alex RossClinical assessments and testing are “well underway” for British passengers from the cruise ship hit by deadly hantavirus who are isolating at a UK hospital, health bosses have said.
Twenty British nationals from the MV Hondius, together with a German who is a UK resident and a Japanese passenger, were taken to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral on Sunday after the ship docked in Tenerife.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Monday evening that clinical assessments and testing at the hospital were well underway.
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at UKHSA, said: “Clinical assessments and testing are now underway at Arrowe Park and the staff there have once again shown outstanding dedication and professionalism in providing the highest standard of care. We are enormously grateful for everything they are doing.
“Passengers will continue to receive the full support of our teams and NHS specialists throughout their stay and beyond.
“We want to reassure both passengers and the wider public that robust arrangements are in place, and that everyone involved will be looked after every step of the way.”
American from hantavirus-hit cruise ship tests positive as passengers arrive in Nebraska
Tuesday 12 May 2026 00:30 , Rebecca Whittaker
American from hantavirus cruise ship tests positive as passengers arrive in Nebraska
Watch: MV Hondius captain praises passengers’ ‘patience and discipline’ in emotional video message
Monday 11 May 2026 23:30 , Rebecca WhittakerExperts say risk to the public hasn't increased as seven cases now confirmed
Monday 11 May 2026 22:30 , Rebecca WhittakerA French woman and an American tested positive for hantavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to seven, but experts say the level of risk to the public has not changed.
Dr Giulia Gallo, Postdoctoral Scientist in the Viral Glycoproteins Group, The Pirbright Institute, said: “It is not surprising, the general hope was that no more cases would be detected, but given that it takes a considerable amount of time for symptoms to develop, health agencies have put in place protocols to minimise the risk of transmission to the healthy passengers, and the population, in case this would happen.”
“These potentially new cases derive from the same cluster of exposed people on the ship. Monitoring and quarantining passengers and crew staff is still the best approach to ensure that the rest of the population remains unaffected by this situation.”
Watch: Spanish health ministry provides update on cruise ship hit by hantavirus
Monday 11 May 2026 21:30 , Rebecca WhittakerThe risk of hantavirus to the public remains 'extremely low'
Monday 11 May 2026 20:30 , Rebecca WhittakerProfessor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said the risk to the wider public was “extremely low” and people can “carry on your daily business”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme scientists were “working quite intensely” on understanding more about hantavirus.
“What we’ve seen so far is the individuals who have apparently contracted it from each other have been in very close contact. They’ve been sharing a cabin, for example, or had extremely close contact with someone who is strongly symptomatic.
“We think the virus primarily spreads only from people who have symptoms, so the risk from someone who is asymptomatic is extremely low.
“And if you think about the cruise ship setting, you know, this is a very close living situation so perhaps an area in which spread is more likely.
“It’s not the same as most people’s private living arrangements, and it’s definitely not the same as people who might pass someone in the street, for example. So the risk there is essentially negligible.”
Contacts from hantavirus-hit cruise are isolating in Germany
Monday 11 May 2026 19:30 , Rebecca WhittakerFour German contacts from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius are being monitored in a special isolation unit at Frankfurt University Hospital, German health authorities said.
The patients, who currently do not have any symptoms, will be transferred to Berlin, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein, where regional authorities will take over their care.
Frankfurt University Hospital said the four were brought in between midnight and 1am local time for medical checks and laboratory testing in Frankfurt and Marburg.
So far, there were "no indications of illness," Timo Wolf, head of the special isolation ward for highly pathogenic infections in Frankfurt, said in a statement.
Pictured: Paratroopers jump onto world’s most remote island to aid hantavirus-hit UK patient
Monday 11 May 2026 18:30 , Rebecca WhittakerA specialist team of army and medical paratroopers took a death-defying 8,000ft jump to deliver medical supplies to a man suffering from suspected hantavirus on the remote British overseas territory Tristan da Cunha.
Medics were flown 7,000 miles from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to the world’s most remote inhabited island in the South Atlantic ocean, arriving just days before the British national would have ran out of oxygen.
Britons evacuated from hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship return to UK
Monday 11 May 2026 17:30 , Rebecca WhittakerBritons evacuated from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak have arrived in the UK and have been taken to an isolation facility after being repatriated from Tenerife.
A chartered Titan Airways flight which transported the passengers from the Canary Islands landed at Manchester Airport on Sunday evening.
The 20 British passengers, who were tested for hantavirus before getting on the flight, will now isolate at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral.
Britons evacuated from hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship land in UK
WHO director-general shares 'profound sadness' after officer helping evacuate passengers dies
Monday 11 May 2026 16:30 , Rebecca WhittakerAn officer who was supporting the Spanish authorities in evacuating the MV Hondius in the Port of Granadilla died from a heart attack, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has shared in a post on X.
“I feel profound sadness over the passing of a @guardiacivil officer in Tenerife, who died last night from a heart attack, “ he said.
“The officer was supporting the operation of the Spanish authorities, in coordination with the WHO, to safely evacuate people from the MV Hondius in the Port of Granadilla to the airport for their repatriation.
“Emergency services at the dock immediately began resuscitation maneuvers, but, regrettably, they were unable to save his life.”
Siento una profunda tristeza por el fallecimiento de un agente de la @guardiacivil en Tenerife, quien murió anoche a causa de un infarto.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) May 11, 2026
El agente estaba apoyando la operación de las autoridades españolas, en coordinación con la OMS, para evacuar de forma segura a las personas… https://t.co/50W4IVUto1 pic.twitter.com/DW8M4wztQf
Recap: How many hantavirus cases have been confirmed?
Monday 11 May 2026 15:30 , Rebecca Whittaker- Seven cases of Andes hantavirus have been confirmed among passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship, as reported by the World Health Organization.
- Two additional cases are suspected, including the individual believed to be the first infected, who died before being tested.
- The outbreak has resulted in a total of three deaths.
- Twenty British passengers, who were tested for hantavirus, are now isolating at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside after arriving at Manchester Airport.
- UK health officials have commenced contact tracing for individuals who had contact with those evacuated from the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius.
Watch: Passengers from hantavirus-hit ship spend first night at isolation facility
Monday 11 May 2026 15:10 , Rebecca WhittakerInside paratroopers death-defying 8,000ft jump onto world’s most remote island to aid hantavirus-hit UK patient
Monday 11 May 2026 14:50 , Rebecca WhittakerA specialist team of army and medical paratroopers took a death-defying 8,000ft jump to deliver medical supplies to a man suffering from suspected hantavirus on the remote British overseas territory Tristan da Cunha.
Medics were flown 7,000 miles from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire to the world’s most remote inhabited island in the South Atlantic ocean, arriving just days before the British national would have ran out of oxygen.
In a first operation of its kind, six paratroopers, an RAF consultant and army nurse from 16 Air Assault Brigade parachuted onto the island at 7pm on Saturday to offer assistance to the two exhausted medics on the island.
Read more here:
Inside paratroopers jump onto remote island to aid hantavirus-hit UK patient
British man with hantavirus 'gradually improving'
Monday 11 May 2026 14:30 , Rebecca WhittakerThe condition of a British man who was admitted to a hospital in Johannesburg after falling ill with hantavirus is gradually improving, a South African health ministry spokesperson said.
"The British patient is clinically improving but still ill," the spokesperson Foster Mohale said. "This means his condition is improving, gradually so."
The man was medically evacuated to South Africa on April 27 after presenting with a fever, shortness of breath and signs of pneumonia.
He disembarked from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius at Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean.
Watch: MV Hondius captain praises passengers’ ‘patience and discipline’ in emotional video message
Monday 11 May 2026 14:10 , Rebecca WhittakerPictured: Aircraft carrying passengers evacuated from the cruise ship MV Hondius arrives in the US
Monday 11 May 2026 13:50 , Rebecca WhittakerA chartered aircraft carrying passengers evacuated from the cruise ship MV Hondius, which was affected by a hantavirus outbreak, has arrived in Nebraska.
Ship's captain praises ' unity and quiet strength' of those on board
Monday 11 May 2026 13:30 , Rebecca WhittakerThe ship's captain, Jan Dobrogowski, issued a video message praising passengers and crew for their perseverance and calling for respect for their privacy.
He said: “I’ve decided to take this time to thank every single guest and crew member on board here, as well as our colleagues back home. The past few weeks have been extremely challenging to us all…
“What touched me the most, what moved me the most was your patience, your discipline, and also (the) kindness that you showed to each other throughout.”
He continued: “I’ve witnessed your caring, your unity and quiet strength amongst everybody on board – guests and crew alike – and I must commend my crew for their courage and the selfless resolve they showed time and again in the most difficult moments. I cannot imagine sailing through these circumstances with a better group of people – guests and crew alike. Most importantly, our thoughts are with the ones that are no longer with us.
“Whatever I say will not ease this loss. I’d like you to know they are with us every day, in our hearts and our thoughts.”
He said he would “ask for privacy and respect to our guests and their families and other crew members at this difficult time”.
He added that “now, we hope to see everybody safely at home”.
Seven cases of the Andes hantavirus have now been confirmed
Monday 11 May 2026 13:26 , Rebecca WhittakerSeven cases of the Andes hantavirus have now been confirmed among people who were passengers on board the cruise ship, the World Health Organization said.
It comes after France reported that a French passenger evacuated from the MV Hondius had tested positive for the virus.
A further two of the nine cases are suspected to be hantavirus, including the person who is believed to have been the first one infected in the outbreak. He died before he could be tested.
In total, three people have died in the outbreak, the WHO said.
Contacts from hantavirus-hit cruise are isolating in Germany
Monday 11 May 2026 13:00 , Rebecca WhittakerFour German contacts from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius are being monitored in a special isolation unit at Frankfurt University Hospital, German health authorities said.
The patients, who currently do not have any symptoms, will be transferred to Berlin, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein, where regional authorities will take over their care.
Frankfurt University Hospital said the four were brought in between midnight and 1am local time for medical checks and laboratory testing in Frankfurt and Marburg.
So far, there were "no indications of illness," Timo Wolf, head of the special isolation ward for highly pathogenic infections in Frankfurt, said in a statement.
Watch: Spanish health ministry provides update on cruise ship hit by hantavirus
Monday 11 May 2026 12:40 , Rebecca WhittakerAmerican from hantavirus-hit cruise ship tests positive as passengers arrive in Nebraska
Monday 11 May 2026 12:20 , Rebecca WhittakerAmerican passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius have arrived in Nebraska for evaluation.
The passengers, one of whom is presumed to be a positive case, landed at Eppley Airfield in Omaha shortly before 2.30 am on Monday morning. There were 17 U.S. citizens and one British national, who lives in the U.S., on board the flight, Spanish Health Minister Mónica García told CNN.
Read more here:
American from hantavirus cruise ship tests positive as passengers arrive in Nebraska
Australia to quarantine six people flying home from hantavirus cruise ship
Monday 11 May 2026 12:00 , Rebecca WhittakerAustralia is set to quarantine half a dozen passengers from the Dutch-flagged luxury cruise ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak, as carefully managed evacuations begin.
The government has declared the measures a "precautionary approach" to keep the community safe following the arrival of five Australians and one New Zealander in Perth on Monday.
Passengers were being evacuated from MV Hondius after the luxury cruise ship arrived at the Port of Granadilla near the Spanish island of Tenerife on Sunday carrying 147 people.
Read more here:
Australia to quarantine six people from hantavirus cruise ship
Experts say risk to the public hasn't increased following three new cases
Monday 11 May 2026 11:45 , Rebecca WhittakerA French woman and two Americans tested positive for hantavirus, but experts say the level of risk to the public has not changed.
Dr Giulia Gallo, Postdoctoral Scientist in the Viral Glycoproteins Group, The Pirbright Institute, said: “It is not surprising, the general hope was that no more cases would be detected, but given that it takes a considerable amount of time for symptoms to develop, health agencies have put in place protocols to minimise the risk of transmission to the healthy passengers, and the population, in case this would happen.”
“These potentially new cases derive from the same cluster of exposed people on the ship. Monitoring and quarantining passengers and crew staff is still the best approach to ensure that the rest of the population remains unaffected by this situation.”
Watch: Army race to parachute oxygen to hantavirus patient on world’s most remote island
Monday 11 May 2026 11:30 , Rebecca WhittakerExperts say hantavirus cases unlikely to have started from Ushuaia trip
Monday 11 May 2026 11:00 , Rebecca WhittakerHealth officials have said the deadly outbreak of hantavirus may have been caused by a Dutch couple contracting the illness during a bird-watching outing in Ushuaia, Argentina.
Two Argentine officials investigating the origins of the outbreak on the ship, which sailed from southern Argentina, said this is now the government’s leading hypothesis.
The couple visited a landfill site during the birdwatching tour, authorities said, where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.
However, locally not everyone agrees with this theory.
Authorities previously said that Ushuaia and the surrounding province of Tierra del Fuego had never recorded a case of the hantavirus.
Juan Facundo Petrina, the province's Director General of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, told the BBC there have been “no record of hantavirus cases in our history.”
He stressed that it is unlikely the virus came from his province and the endemic zone for hantavirus lies more than 1,500km (930 miles) to the north.
Army parachutes team onto remote island to help British suspected hantavirus case
Monday 11 May 2026 10:45 , Rebecca WhittakerA specialist team of army and medical personnel have been parachuted onto the British overseas territory Tristan da Cunha with medical aid and equipment after a British national showed symptoms of hantavirus.
The patient was on board the cruise ship MV Hondius, where an outbreak of the virus has killed three people, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has confirmed.
They are currently in hospital on the island where they live, the UK minister for the overseas territories, Stephen Doughty, said in a statement.
Read more here:
Army parachutes team onto remote island to support Briton with suspected hantavirus
Pictured: British nationals who were repatriated after being exposed to a hantavirus aboard an Atlantic expedition cruise ship are quarantined
Monday 11 May 2026 10:30 , Rebecca WhittakerA plane carrying 20 British nationals arrived at Manchester Airport on Sunday and are now being monitored at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral.
Within a 72-hour period, these passengers will receive clinical assessments and testing and will be required to isolate for 45 days.
British man hospitalised with hantavirus is 'improving'
Monday 11 May 2026 10:11 , Rebecca WhittakerA British man who was admitted to a hospital in Johannesburg after falling ill with hantavirus aboard a luxury cruise ship is "clinically improving," a South African health ministry spokesperson said.
"The British patient is clinically improving but still ill," the spokesperson Foster Mohale said.
"This means his condition is improving, gradually so."
Three passengers, French and American, test positive for hantavirus after cruise ship evacuation
Monday 11 May 2026 10:07 , Rebecca WhittakerA French woman and two Americans tested positive or showed symptoms of hantavirus.
A French woman evacuated from a cruise ship developed symptoms on the flight to Paris and has tested positive for hantavirus.
Two the 17 American passengers evacuated from the ship and flown to Nebraska also tested positive for the hantavirus. One passengers is showing mild symptoms and the other is not showing any symptoms.
It comes after officials from the Spanish Health Ministry, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions had said none of the more than 140 people who were then on the Hondius had shown symptoms of the virus.
Watch: Britons evacuated from hantavirus-hit cruise arrive in UK for isolation
Monday 11 May 2026 10:00 , Rebecca Whittaker'it’s going to be a very stressful period for them and their families,' experts say as Britons isolate
Monday 11 May 2026 09:30 , Rebecca WhittakerA plane carrying 20 British nationals arrived at Manchester Airport on Sunday and are now being monitored at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral.
Professor Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said people at Arrowe Park would be supported practically but also emotionally.
“We’ll be supporting them very closely, not just with testing, but also for the very large emotional turmoil this will obviously have – it’s going to be a very stressful period for them and their families,” he told BBC Breakfast.
He said people would be supported with “the day to day stuff… So for example, people have left many of their belongings behind so they need clothes and supplies and those kind of things and a lot of emotional support for the next period of isolation.
“And going forward from then, as they return to home or wherever else they’re going to isolate from, we will be putting steps in place to support those around them.
“But I have to say the people involved so far have been really impressive in their willingness to work with us and their willingness to continue to isolate and protect the wider public, and we’re really grateful to them for that.”
How many confirmed and suspected cases of hantavirus are there?
Monday 11 May 2026 09:05 , Rebecca WhittakerThe World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed six people have had hantavirus and three people died in the outbreak.
The confirmed cases include two British nationals who are being treated in the Netherlands and South Africa.
However, there are also several cases of suspected hantavirus, including a British man who is on the remote Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha.
Passengers who travelled back to France and the US over the weekend have also shown symptoms of hantavirus.
One French national developed symptoms while on a chartered flight from Tenerife to Paris. As a result all five French nationals who were evacuated over the weekend have been put in “strict isolation”.
One of the 17 Americans being repatriated from the hantavirus-hit ship has tested mildly positive for the Andes strain of the virus while a second has mild symptoms, but has not yet been confirmed as having the virus.
How many people arrived back in the UK this weekend?
Monday 11 May 2026 08:40 , Rebecca WhittakerA plane carrying 20 British nationals arrived at Manchester Airport on Sunday.
The British nationals along with one German national, who is a UK resident, and one Japanese passenger are now being monitored at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral.
Within a 72-hour period, these passengers will receive clinical assessments and testing and will be required to isolate for 45 days.
The UK Government repatriated the Japanese passenger at the request of the Japanese Government and they will complete their isolation in the UK in line with UKHSA guidance.
Public Health Minister Sharon Hodgson said: “None of the passengers are symptomatic but we will monitor them closely over the next 72 hours at the hospital, as part of a precautionary isolation period.
“With no cases or symptoms among them and both our stringent monitoring and isolation measures, the risk to the public remains extremely low.”
UK Health Official announces contact tracing as cruise ship passengers enter 45-day isolation
Monday 11 May 2026 08:09 , Namita SinghThe UK health officials have begin contact tracing for those in touch with British passengers and crew of the Hantavirus-striken MV Hondius.
Announcing the measure, Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Health Security Agency Professor Robin May told BBC Radio 4: “Contact tracing is still very much ongoing and we'll continue to do that over the next few weeks actually, particularly on stopover points of the cruise ship on islands and, and similar.”
It came as the evacuated and repatriated crew and passengers were put in isolation for 45 days.
Professor May, however, attempted to assure viewers about the spread of Hantavirus, saying it is not the same as Covid-19 pandemic.
Explaining the need for contact tracing measure, he said: “People these days travel a lot as we all know, so it's important to keep up with where they are, but at the minute we have reached out and contacted a huge number of people already, and again my thanks to them for participating in this.
“But yes... the number of people we're contacting may continue to rise over the coming days, but most people have already been contacted."
Body of deceased passenger to remain on cruise till it reaches the Netherlands
Monday 11 May 2026 08:00 , Namita SinghThe body of a German passenger who died onboard after the Hantavirus outbreak will remain on board till the cruise reaches Rotterdam in the Netherlands, said Spanish authorities.
The cruise will then undergo disinfection there. The journey, however, is five days long.
Meanwhile, the passengers and crew members who have disembarked and been repatriated will be checked for symptoms and be forbidden from contacts local.
Hantavirus is spread by rodents. People can get it through contact with infected rodents' saliva, urine or droppings. It doesn’t usually spread from person to person, but some health authorities say such transmission could be possible.
UKSHA officer attempts to dispel Hantavirus myth: ‘This is not the same virus like Covid’
Monday 11 May 2026 07:48 , Namita SinghThe Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Health Security Agency attempted to dispel myths around the spread of Hantavirus, while assuring full support to affected individuals.
Stating that it does not spread like novel coronavirus, Professor Robin May told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that while the scientists are “still working quite intensely on understanding more about this virus, but what we know so far is that actually it is quite difficult for the virus to transmit person to person.
“We don't see that rapid transmission, and as I've said before, this is very much not the same as a virus like flu or Covid which transmits it transmits very easily.”
"It's quite difficult to get between individuals and what we've seen so far is the individuals who have apparently contracted it from each other have been in very close contact. They've been sharing a cabin, for example, or had extremely close contact with someone who is strongly symptomatic."
He said that those who are not linked to the cruise ship are at an extremely low risk of contracting it.
“If you are directly involved, we've already been speaking to you, we've been giving you instructions on what to do for the coming weeks and we'll continue to support you in that place, but for the rest of us, fortunately, it's business as usual."
UKHSA officer says repatriated British passengers to have as ‘normal’ isolation as possible
Monday 11 May 2026 07:47 , Namita SinghProfessor Robin May, who is the Chief Scientific Officer at the UK Health Security Agency, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the hospital will try to make life in isolation as "normal" as possible as the British passengers and crew of the MV Hondius enter a 45-day isolation.
"In the next three days they're going to be based at Arrow Park, as you know, which is hospital accommodation, so they're being accommodated. If they were travelling in a family group, they're staying in that family group, and they'll be living as normal a life as they can whilst they're in hospital.
"During that time we're going to be assessing them quite intensely, to make sure that they are virus free. So we're going to be looking by – and these are things that I'm sure people will be familiar with from Covid – so PCR testing to look for any possibility of the virus and also testing their serums or their blood samples for the presence of any antibodies. And after those three days, they then go home to self-isolate for a further 45, which is a long time."
Video: ‘This is not Covid': CDC boss attempts to reassure concerned public over hantavirus outbreak
Monday 11 May 2026 07:30 , Namita SinghWHO chief says ‘this is not Covid’
Monday 11 May 2026 07:00 , Namita SinghWHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the danger of the outbreak is low, as this is not like a coronavirus outbreak.
“We have been repeating the same answer many times," he said. "This is not another Covid. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn’t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic.”
Meanwhile, passengers disembarking from the Hantavirus-stricken cruise were relieved to finally be on their way to their home country, said another WHO official.
“It’s been great seeing all the buses coming out and people really happy to be on land again and being repatriated,” said Diana Rojas Alvarez, the WHO health operations lead, who is on Tenerife.
Kiwi passengers await evacuation
Monday 11 May 2026 06:30 , Namita SinghAs countries rush to evacuate passengers from Hantavirus stricken cruise docked near Tenerife, New Zealand passengers still await repatriation.
They are expected to be flown out along with Australasian repatriation flight, likely to arrive on Monday.
Passengers and disembarking crew members have been allowed to carry only a small bag with essentials, including a cellphone, a charger and documentation, while leaving their remaining luggage behind.
In pictures: Passengers disembark from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship
Monday 11 May 2026 06:00 , Namita Singh
