Hantavirus cruise ship passed to resume sailing after deep clean

The Dutch-registered cruise ship at the centre of last month’s hantavirus outbreak has been cleared to sail again after being cleaned and disinfected in Rotterdam.

The MV Hondius was kept in the port for additional cleaning after the last of its crew members disembarked last week. Most of the 147 passengers and crew on board were evacuated from Tenerife at the start of May.

A couple from the Dutch province of Friesland died of hantavirus after they boarded the ship in Argentina on April 1 for a South Atlantic cruise. They are believed to have contracted the infection while travelling overland in South America.

Several other passengers fell ill during the voyage or shortly after disembarking from the ship, including a German woman who died on board.

A total of 13 people connected with the cruise have either tested positive or are suspected of having contracted the Andes variant of hantavirus, which is mainly transmitted by rodents but can be passed from person to person in close-contact situations.

Most of the passengers have been repatriated to their home countries, where they have been told to quarantine at home or in hospital for six weeks.

The vessel’s eight decks had to be cleaned by biosecurity experts wearing PPE gear over the course of four days, using hydrogen peroxide and high-temperature steam cleaning. The ship was also declared rodent-free by pest control experts.

Svalbard cruise

The local health authority (GGD) gave the ship a clean bill of health on Saturday, allowing it to travel to Longyearbyen, on the Arctic island of Svalbard, later this week after undergoing routine maintenance.

It is due to leave for an Arctic cruise voyage on June 13, operator Oceanwide Expeditions said.

Marcel van den Brink, chief commercial officer of EWS Group, which was responsible for the cleaning operation, said: “What made this operation unique was the level of coordination required to develop and execute a controlled biosecurity response within a very short timeframe.”