Canada’s national health agency on Sunday (May 17, 2026) confirmed that one of four Canadians who returned home from a cruise ship hit with a hantavirus outbreak has tested positive for the virus.

The Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed the positive test a day after the public health officer for the province of British Columbia said the person had received a “presumptive positive” but further testing would be conducted at the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg.

“One individual’s sample was confirmed positive for hantavirus,” the national agency said in a statement.

A second individual who was a travelling partner of the confirmed case was confirmed negative, the statement said. Both people, a couple in their 70s from the Yukon, are in a hospital in Victoria.

The four Canadian cruise passengers returned to British Columbia last Sunday (May 10, 2026). Besides the couple, there was a person in their 70s from Vancouver Island and a British Columbia person in their 50s who lives abroad. All are in isolation.

Three people have died since the hantavirus outbreak began on the cruise ship MV Hondius. The Canadian patient is the 10th person from the ship to test positive.

Among the three who died are a Dutch couple who health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.

The Canadian public health agency said it is taking a precautionary approach to ensure citizens are protected.

“The overall risk to the general population in Canada from the Andes hantavirus outbreak linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship remains low at this time,” the statement said. “All confirmed cases to date have been passengers or crew on the MV Hondius cruise ship.”

The agency said it provided the information about the positive case to the World Health Organization and will share information to support the ongoing global investigation of the outbreak.

One of four Canadians who returned home from a cruise ship where there was a hantavirus outbreak received a “presumptive positive” test result for the virus, Canadian officials said on Saturday (May 16, 2026)

Results from the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg to confirm the case are expected to come over the weekend, said Dr. Bonnie Henry, the public health officer for the province of British Columbia.

“Clearly this is not what we hoped for, but it is what we planned for,” Mr. Henry said.

The person, one member of a couple in their 70s, began showing mild symptoms, including a fever and headache, two days ago. Both are in a hospital in Victoria.

“The patient is stable, the symptoms remain mild at this point,” said Mr. Henry. “They are still in hospital, in isolation, being monitored and receiving care as needed.” The second person showed “very minor symptoms” and tests were negative, she said.

“It is encouraging that symptoms were identified early, supportive care can be provided, and they will be monitored carefully over the next few days,” Mr. Henry said.

Three people have died since the hantavirus outbreak began on the MV Hondius. If confirmed, the Canadian patient would be the 10th person from the ship to test positive. The outbreak on the ship has reached 12 cases, nine of which have been confirmed. Among those who died are a Dutch couple who health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.

The four Canadians returned to British Columbia on May 10. Besides a couple in their 70s from the Yukon, there was a person in their 70s from Vancouver Island and a BC person from British Columbia in their 50s who lives abroad. All were in isolation.

Henry said the hantavirus is different from COVID-19 and is not considered to have “pandemic potential.”

“I want to reassure everybody in (British Columbia) that for most of us the situation has not changed,” she said. “We’ve had infection control precautions in place from the moment these people arrived in British Columbia.

“I’m confident there’s no additional risk. We are well prepared to respond carefully and appropriately to keep everyone safe.”

The United States said on Friday (May 9, 2026) it was organising an evacuation flight for Americans on a hantavirus-struck cruise ship that has sailed to the Canary Islands, which are part of Spain.

“The Department of State is arranging a repatriation flight to support the safe return of American passengers on this ship,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The State Department said it was coordinating with the Spanish government as well as other U.S. federal agencies.

“We are in direct communication with Americans on board and are prepared to provide consular assistance as soon as the ship arrives in Tenerife, Spain,” the spokesperson said on condition of anonymity.

The ship operator earlier said that 17 Americans were on board. The State Department did not immediately give a number of U.S. passengers.

Three passengers from the MV Hondius — a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman — have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.

The only hantavirus strain that can transmit from person to person — Andes virus — has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fueling international concern.

The ship is due in Tenerife on Sunday (May 10, 2026).

The flight will then take the American cruise passengers to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, and then on to a national quarantine facility at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

“At this time, the risk to the American public remains extremely low,” the CDC said.

Nebraska Medicine, a health care network, and the University of Nebraska Medical Center said that U.S. citizens will be cared for in the federally funded National Quarantine Unit.

“At this time, the individuals being monitored are well with no symptoms of illness,” they said in a statement.

The World Health Organization has said that the United States is among 12 countries with nationals who have already left the ship, on the remote British island of Saint Helena on April 24.

At least two Indian nationals are part of the crew of the Dutch vessel MV Hondius which reported a hantavirus outbreak with five confirmed cases and three deaths so far, according to the BBC.

The luxury cruise ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, began its journey on April 1 from Argentina’s Ushuaia and is expected to arrive in Spain’s Canary Islands on May 10.

About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries were initially aboard the luxury cruise, but dozens disembarked on the island of St. Helena on April 24, according to the report.

Of the 28 nationalities onboard, 38 are from the Philippines, 31 from the U.K., 23 from the U.S., 16 from the Netherlands, 14 from Spain, nine from Germany, six from Canada, and two crew members from India, among others, the BBC reported.

The World Health Organization said on Thursday (May 7, 2026) that five of the eight suspected hantavirus cases had been confirmed.

A 69-year-old Dutch woman, confirmed to have the virus, has died; her Dutch husband and a German woman were also among the fatalities. Their cases are being investigated.

The UN health agency has said the outbreak is not the start of a pandemic.

Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at WHO, told a news briefing that the situation is not the same as six years ago with Covid-19 because hantavirus spreads through “close, intimate contact”.

Van Kerkhove said “this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently”. She said authorities had asked “everyone to wear a mask” on board the MV Hondius.

Those in contact with or caring for suspected cases, she added, should “wear a higher level of personal protective equipment”.

Hantavirus typically spreads from rodents – but in the latest outbreak the transmission between people was documented for the first time, the WHO said.

Meanwhile, health authorities are racing to trace dozens of people who have recently disembarked from the Dutch vessel MV Hondius.

Oceanwide Expedition said 29 passengers, of at least 12 different nationalities, had left the MV Hondius in St Helena, the British Overseas Territory.

It also said the body of one deceased person—now known to be a Dutch man—was taken off the vessel.

Seven of those who left the cruise liner were British nationals.