A passenger on a cruise ship linked to a hantavirus outbreak has developed symptoms while being repatriated to France, the country’s Prime Minister has said.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the national became symptomatic during a chartered flight from Tenerife to Paris, prompting immediate isolation measures.
As a result, all five French evacuees from the MV Hondius were “immediately placed in strict isolation until further notice”.
The French citizens are among more than 90 tourists flown off the Dutch vessel on Sunday after it anchored off the Canary Islands before dawn.
Three passengers have died following travel on the ship, with two confirmed to have had the virus.
After landing at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, officials in personal protective equipment met the evacuees on the tarmac before they were transferred by ambulance to Bichat hospital in the French capital.
Authorities said the group will undergo a 72-hour quarantine for full medical evaluation, after which they will be required to self-isolate for 45 days, according to a statement from France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
In Spain, 14 nationals evacuated to Madrid from Tenerife have been placed under mandatory quarantine at a military hospital, while British nationals flown back to Manchester are being monitored by the UK Health Security Agency. None have reported symptoms.
A separate flight carrying 26 passengers and crew, including eight Dutch nationals, has arrived in the Netherlands.
In the United States, 18 evacuees, including American passengers and one British resident—were flown out on another repatriation flight.
The US Department of Health and Human Services said one passenger developed mild symptoms during the journey and another tested mildly positive for the Andes strain. Both were transported in biocontainment units “out of an abundance of caution.”
Further evacuation flights for Turkish, Irish, Spanish, and Australian nationals were either completed or scheduled, with Spanish Health Minister Mónica García confirming that the final repatriation operations were expected to conclude shortly.
Spanish Health Secretary Javier Padilla said more than 90 of the 150 passengers and crew aboard the Hondius had been repatriated by the end of Sunday.
The vessel had docked at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, where medical teams boarded at around 07:00 local time (06:00 GMT) to begin evacuations coordinated by Spanish authorities and the World Health Organization.
Passengers were seen on deck wearing masks as evacuation operations unfolded. Some were later transferred by boat to shore, where they were met by officials in protective suits before being taken to airports.
The arrival of the MV Hondius has raised concern among some local authorities in Spain over potential spread of infection.
Hantaviruses are usually carried by rodents, though human transmission of the Andes strain is possible. Health officials believe some passengers may have been infected while travelling in South America.
Symptoms can include fever, extreme fatigue, muscle aches, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, and shortness of breath.
Helen Clark, co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, said lessons must be learned from managing outbreaks on ships.
She said, “Passengers disembarked and dispersed to the four winds when there had been a death of a potentially infectious pathogen on board.”
She added,”There’s not yet enough financing to support lower income countries to build capacities for early detection, surveillance, response.”
and noted, “the direction is right if countries come together to make it possible to do far, far better than we did with Covid”.
The first death linked to the outbreak occurred on 11 April, followed by another on 2 May. A 69-year-old Dutch woman who left the ship in St Helena later died in South Africa.
Two British men with confirmed infections are being treated in the Netherlands and South Africa, while another suspected case is receiving care on Tristan da Cunha, where British Army medics were deployed with supplies.
Returning British nationals will spend up to 72 hours in isolation facilities upon arrival in the UK before health assessments determine whether they can continue isolation at home or elsewhere.
Once all passengers and crew have been evacuated, the MV Hondius will continue to the Netherlands, where the vessel and belongings of a deceased passenger will undergo disinfection.
