The cruise liner affected by an outbreak of the hantavirus reaches Spain’s Canary Islands | DW News

Imagine your dream expedition cruise turning into a 40-day nightmare at sea. This isn't a movie plot. It’s the reality for the 140 people on board the cruise ship MV Hondius. The reason is a Hantavirus outbreak on board. Three people have already died - a Dutch couple and a German woman - and several others are infected. After weeks of being a "pariah ship" in the Atlantic, it's finally arrived in the Canary Islands.

The ship pulled into Tenerife under total lockdown in the early hours of Sunday. Passengers and some crew have been brought ashore and loaded onto charter flights back to their home countries.

Usually, Hanta is a virus you catch from rat or mouse droppings in a dusty shed. But this outbreak is different. Health officials confirmed this is the ‘Andes strain’, which can jump from person to person. The nightmare isn't over for some of the sailors - about 30 of them have to stay on board to sail the Hondius back to the Netherlands.

WHO director general Tedros Ghebreyesus, who flew to Tenerife to oversee the passenger evacuation, says that this is not comparable to Covid.

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