THE HAGUE — The company that operates the cruise ship at the centre of a hantavirus outbreak said it expects to know by the end of the week if the vessel will keep to its cruising schedule for the rest of the summer, as it previously indicated it would.
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius is listed on Oceanwide Expeditions’ website as scheduled to depart on a cruise later in May that would take it to the Arctic for a series of cruises throughout the summer.
Three cruise ship passengers have died, including a Dutch couple whom health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America. In all, there have been 11 cases reported in the outbreak, nine of which have been confirmed.
On Monday, after the ship reached Spain’s Canary Islands where all remaining passengers were taken off, Oceanwide Expeditions said that it did not “foresee changes to our operations” — which included a new cruise beginning May 29.
But on Wednesday the company said it expects “clarity on whether the vessel will sail and the sailing schedule by the end of this week.”
More than 120 people on board during the outbreak — all passengers and some crew – disembarked on Sunday and Monday and are now quarantined in several countries. The ship then set sail for Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where it is expected to arrive on May 17 or 18, Oceanwide Expeditions says.
Twenty-five crew members, two health workers and the body of one of the passengers who died are still on board. None are showing any symptoms, the company has said.
Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people, though the Andes virus detected on the Hondius may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE RETURNED TO CANADA – AND WHERE ARE THEY?
Ten people with connections to the ship’s outbreak are currently located in Canada, including six passengers and four people who weren’t onboard but may have been exposed to hantavirus on flights.
Four ship passengers are isolating on Vancouver Island – a couple in their 70s from the Yukon, a person in their 70s from the island, and a person from B.C. in their 50s who now lives abroad.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s provincial health officer, said at a news conference on Monday that their 21-day quarantine period started Sunday, but it could be extended to 42 days.
Two other passengers, who are a couple, are isolating in the Grey Bruce region of Ontario and being monitored for 45 days. One visitor to Canada was not on the ship but was on a flight with a ship passenger who later died of hantavirus. They are isolating in the Peel region of Ontario.
Two more travellers may also have been exposed to hantavirus on a flight and are isolating at home in Alberta for at least 21 days from the time of possible exposure. A Quebecer who may have been exposed on another flight was isolating up until Monday, when the province’s health ministry said they were deemed a low risk contact, and could self-monitor for 42 days.
On Tuesday afternoon, Ontario’s ministry of health said it asked seven more people to isolate, even though they are considered “low risk,” because they had come into contact with a higher-risk person.
An update from Health Canada notes that in accordance with WHO guidance, passengers and crew members who were on the affected vessel and individuals identified as high-risk contacts from a flight with a confirmed case should not travel, and adds that the federal government is implementing temporary measures that will prevent any passenger and crew that have been aboard the MV Hondius since April 1, 2026 from boarding a flight to Canada, working in collaboration with public health authorities, air carriers, and border officials.
With file from The Canadian Press
Lead image caption: The hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius is seen at anchor at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, May 11, 2026 (AP Photo/Arturo Rodriguez)