All Hondius evacuees in NL test negative for hantavirus
Everyone flown back to the Netherlands from the cruise ship Hondius has tested negative for the hantavirus, public health institute RIVM has said.
The 26 people on the second and third repatriation flights, which arrived at a military airport in Eindhoven overnight on Monday, all returned negative results, with samples analysed by the RIVM and Erasmus MC in Rotterdam.
They follow the 26 passengers on the first flight – among them eight Dutch nationals – who landed on Sunday and also tested negative.
Regardless of the results, the repatriated passengers must complete a six-week home quarantine, which began on 6 May, and will be retested each week.
A total of 122 people have now been brought back from the ship, where an outbreak during a South Atlantic cruise left three people dead, two of them Dutch.
The RIVM said the risk to the public in the Netherlands remains very low and the World Health Organisation has said the virus is very unlikely to cause a Covid-style pandemic.
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