Hantavirus Cruise Tracker Independent, source-linked monitoring

Outbreak record

Timeline

Every entry is dated, categorized, and where possible linked to a primary source. Items marked Pending review are auto-suggested by the source pipeline and have not yet been verified by a curator.

  1. Advisory

    Granadilla anchorage window — controlled disembarkation (May 9 local)

    Spanish authorities and WHO leadership finalised an anchored operation off Granadilla rather than a normal cruise berth: medical teams board or meet launches, passengers and crew are triaged on board, then moved in closed loops toward airport rotations or Madrid military hospital care for Spanish nationals. Foreign governments and the EU Civil Protection Mechanism supply repatriation flights; the vessel is later sanitised before any return to service.

  2. Advisory

    Spain says MV Hondius will not dock in Tenerife

    Spanish health authorities and the Canary Islands government say the vessel is expected to anchor off Granadilla rather than berth at the port. Passengers are to be evaluated on board, then transferred or repatriated through a controlled operation without contact with the local public. El País reports an expected arrival in Tenerife waters on Sunday.

  3. Advisory

    Madrid and Canary Islands clash over the ship's arrival

    Spain's central government, which had agreed to receive the vessel, is publicly opposed by the Canary Islands regional government over the choice of port and the perceived public-health risk to Tenerife. Madrid confirms the plan to dock at Granadilla — a low-traffic secondary port near Tenerife South Airport — and to channel symptomatic and Spanish-national passengers to a military hospital in Madrid for quarantine. Foreign passengers will be repatriated through the EU civil-protection mechanism.

  4. Case update

    WHO updates total to 8 cases — 5 confirmed, 3 suspected, 3 deaths

    WHO's latest situational update raises confirmed laboratory-tested cases to five and revises suspected to three, for a total of eight cases linked to the cluster. The death toll remains at three. Remaining people on board are reported asymptomatic. The Andes virus (ANDV) attribution is reiterated, with limited person-to-person transmission noted as the operating assumption.

  5. Case update

    Andes virus (ANDV) confirmed; Swiss case identified

    Reference laboratory confirms at least one case as Andes virus (ANDV) — a New World hantavirus that, unlike most strains, has a documented capacity for limited person-to-person transmission, especially among close contacts. A Swiss male passenger tests positive after returning home and is treated in a Zurich hospital. The British patient in South African ICU is reported to be improving.

  6. Official response

    Three medical evacuees airlifted from Cape Verde to the Netherlands

    Two specialised medical aircraft, deployed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with WHO and RIVM, evacuate three patients: a 56-year-old British national (former police officer Martin Anstee), a 41-year-old Dutch crew member, and a 65-year-old German national. An ambulance moves them from the ship's anchorage to Praia airport. Two are reported in serious condition, one stable.

  7. Official response

    Spain agrees to receive ship at Canary Islands

    Spain agrees to receive the MV Hondius at the Canary Islands within three to four days for full epidemiological investigation and disinfection. Plans are made to evacuate two seriously ill crew members to the Netherlands before the ship sails north. Passengers are required to isolate in their cabins with strict hygiene measures.

  8. Official response

    WHO confirms outbreak; Cape Verde refuses dock

    WHO confirms seven hantavirus cases — two laboratory-confirmed and five suspected — including three deaths. The MV Hondius reaches Cape Verde waters and anchors off Praia, but Cape Verde authorities decline to permit docking on public-health grounds. They send a medical team to the ship instead.

  9. Death

    Third death; first crew cases reported

    A German female passenger, who developed fever on April 28, dies on May 2. On the same day, two crew members — one British and one Dutch — develop acute respiratory symptoms, marking the first cases among ship staff and raising concern about onboard transmission.

  10. Case update

    British passenger medevaced from Ascension Island

    A British male passenger, whose condition had deteriorated at Ascension Island, is medically evacuated to South Africa and admitted to intensive care. Hantavirus is later confirmed by laboratory testing. Oceanwide Expeditions is informed of the second Dutch death the same day.

  11. Death

    Second death; hantavirus identified

    The 69-year-old Dutch wife deteriorates during her flight and dies on April 26. Subsequent laboratory testing confirms hantavirus, providing the first concrete identification of the agent driving the cluster.

  12. Official response

    Body disembarked at Saint Helena; wife flies onward

    The body of the deceased Dutch passenger is offloaded at Saint Helena. His 69-year-old wife, who is symptomatic, leaves the ship to accompany the body and to seek medical care, flying onward toward South Africa.

  13. Death

    First death aboard the vessel

    The 70-year-old Dutch passenger dies. Cause of death is not established at the time and would only be linked to hantavirus weeks later, after his wife also fell ill and tested positive.

  14. Detection

    First passenger develops symptoms

    A 70-year-old Dutch passenger begins experiencing fever, headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea — a non-specific febrile presentation that, in retrospect, was the index case. At the time the cause was unknown.

  15. Voyage

    MV Hondius departs Ushuaia bound for Cape Verde

    The Dutch-flagged polar expedition vessel MV Hondius, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, sets sail from Ushuaia, Argentina with 88 passengers and 61 crew aboard, representing 23 nationalities. The ship had been based in Ushuaia since November 2025 conducting Antarctic voyages.