Hantavirus cruise ship kept in Rotterdam for extra cleaning

The cruise ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak last month that claimed the lives of three passengers has been kept in Rotterdam for extra cleaning before it returns to its home port of Vlissingen.

The MV Hondius docked in Rotterdam nine days ago after an eight-week voyage during which nine people either fell sick or tested positive for hantavirus. Four more have tested positive since they left the ship in Tenerife, but there are no indications the disease has spread further.

Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions said the vessel was undergoing ”additional cleaning procedures” on the advice of the local health authority in Rotterdam. It did not say what the procedures were or why they were necessary.

The health board will carry out a final inspection before allowing the ship to sail on to Vlissingen. The ship’s next cruise, which is due to begin on June 13, is expected to go ahead as scheduled, Oceanwide Expeditions said.

All passengers and crew have been evacuated and advised to quarantine for six weeks. The 14 patients from Spain are being kept in hospital, while passengers in other countries, including the Netherlands, are isolating at home under the supervision of health authorities.

Hantavirus is a virus that is mainly transmitted through contact with rodents, but the Andes variant can be spread from person to person.

The World Health Organization says the first people to fall sick on board, a Dutch couple from Haulerwijk in Friesland, were likely to have contracted the virus before they boarded the ship in Argentina.

The husband, a 70-year-old man, died six days into the voyage on April 6, while his 69-year-old wife developed symptoms at the end of April as she was trying to travel back to the Netherlands via South Africa. She died in hospital in Johannesburg.

A 65-year-old German woman died on board, while other passengers who fell sick included the ship’s doctor and a replacement doctor who flew out to join the cruise.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said at the weekend that the outbreak was “stable for now”.