Spanish cruise passenger tests positive for hantavirus as evacuation wraps up

Spain’s health minister said Monday that one Spanish passenger from the MV Hondius cruise ship tested positive for hantavirus shortly after authorities completed the vessel’s evacuation operation.

The passenger who initially tested positive remains asymptomatic, while the 13 other Spanish passengers aboard tested negative, Health Minister Monica Garcia said on social media. All remain quarantined at a military hospital in Madrid.

So far, three people have died in the outbreak, while several others have tested positive for the virus, including an American and a French woman who were also evacuated from the ship to Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday.

The French woman remains in intensive care but is in stable condition, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Monday evening.

Garcia said Monday evening at a press conference that the evacuation mission was “accomplished” after two days of evacuating 125 passengers and crew members from 23 countries, who are now either in their home countries or en route.

The ship is now heading to the Netherlands, where the remaining crew will disembark and specialists will disinfect the vessel.

The evacuation operation sparked controversy in Spain, with the president of the Canary Islands questioning the health risks and asking why the ship was not evacuated in the Netherlands, where it is registered. However, health authorities have stressed that the virus does not pose a high transmission risk comparable to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The operation was coordinated with several countries as well as the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

The hantavirus strain linked to the outbreak is the Andes strain, the only known variant capable of human-to-human transmission.

The deadliest known outbreak of the virus killed 11 people in Patagonia in southern Argentina in 2018.