A cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak is scheduled to arrive in the port city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands on Monday morning (May 18, 2026).

The MV Hondius has spent the past six days sailing from the Canary Islands, where the remaining passengers were escorted off the vessel by personnel in full-body protective gear and boarded flights to more than 20 countries to enter quarantine.

The outbreak on the ship has reached 11 cases, nine of which have been confirmed, according to the World Health Organisation. Three passengers have died, including a Dutch couple who health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.

The vessel has made the journey from Tenerife up the coast of Africa and Europe with 25 crew members and two medical personnel. According to the ship operator Oceanwide Expeditions, no one on board is experiencing any symptoms.

Crew members who are unable to return home will be quarantined in the Netherlands, the Dutch Health Ministry said last week. Some two dozen passengers and crew are already in quarantine in the Netherlands, after arriving in the country on a series of flights over the previous two weeks.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said Sunday (May 17, 2026) that one of the four Canadians in isolation after leaving the ship had tested positive. The case was not yet reflected in the WHO data.

Eighteen Americans are currently under observation at specialised healthcare facilities in the United States designed to treat people with dangerous infectious diseases.

Dr. Bonnie Henry, the public health officer for the province of British Columbia, said Saturday (May 16, 2026) the person had received a “presumptive positive” but further testing would be conducted at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg.

After everyone on board has disembarked, the ship will be decontaminated based on Dutch public health guidelines. “Personal protective measures are being taken to ensure that the cleaners do not need to quarantine after the cleaning,” the Health Ministry said in a letter to the Dutch parliament last week.

Public health officials will inspect the vessel before it is allowed to sail again. The hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius is the first known case on a cruise ship.

The Dutch company that owns the cruise ship said it doesn’t foresee any changes to its operations. It has an Arctic cruise setting sail from Keflavik, Iceland, on May 29.

France’s Pasteur Institute said on Saturday (May 16, 2026) it has fully sequenced the Andes virus detected in a French passenger from the MV Hondius cruise ship and found that it matched viruses already known in South America, with no evidence so far of new characteristics that would make it more transmissible or more dangerous.

The World Health Organization said on Thursday (May 7, 2026) there were now five confirmed hantavirus cases from the Atlantic cruise ship outbreak, with three more suspected — and warned more cases were possible.

The WHO said it expected the outbreak on the MV Hondius, currently sailing from Cape Verde to the Spanish island of Tenerife, to be limited, so long as public health measures were properly implemented.

“So far, eight cases have been reported, including three deaths. Five of the eight cases have been confirmed as hantavirus and the other three are suspected,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyeus said.

“The species of hantavirus involved in this case is the Andes virus, which is found in Latin America,” he told journalists in Geneva.

“Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it’s possible that more cases may be reported,” he added.

The Dutch-flagged ship left Ushuaia in Argentina on April 1 on its cruise north through the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde. It set sail north towards Tenerife on Wednesday (May 6).

Mr. Tedros said he had been in regular contact with the ship’s captain.

“He told me morale has improved significantly since the ship started moving again. I thank him for everything he has done to protect those under his duty of care,” he said.

The WHO’s emergency alert and response director Abdi Rahman Mahamud added: “We believe this will be a limited outbreak if the public health measures are implemented and solidarity shown across all countries.”

The rare disease is usually spread from infected rodents, typically through urine, droppings and saliva.

The Andes virus is found in South America. It is the only strain of hantavirus with documented human-to-human transmission.

Mr. Tedros said Argentina would send 2,500 diagnostic kits to laboratories in five countries.

After leaving Ushuaia on its Atlantic voyage, the exploration vessel stopped at several remote islands along the way.

The WHO said it had informed 12 countries that its nationals had disembarked the MV Hondius on Saint Helena.

The ship called at the British territory from April 22 to 24. Its operator said that 30 guests had disembarked at that point, including the first fatality, a Dutchman who died on April 11.

The 12 countries were Britain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States, Mr. Tedros said.