{"id":35100,"date":"2026-05-13T04:55:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/35100\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T04:55:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:55:19","slug":"mv-hondius-passengers-quarantine-fight-disease-as-dutch-and-uk-governments-order-isolations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/35100\/","title":{"rendered":"MV Hondius passengers quarantine, fight disease as Dutch and UK governments order isolations"},"content":{"rendered":"

British paratroopers have dropped into one of the world’s most remote communities to bring vital supplies and medical clinicians to the island after the hantavirus-hit MV Hondius stopped at the island.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A day after the evacuation of passengers aboard the cruise ship, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced 10 British people from remote island territories, including cruise ship passengers and medical staff who had contact with confirmed cases in the hantavirus outbreak, would be brought to the UK for precautionary isolation.<\/p>\n

The UKHSA said the individuals were already isolating and not showing symptoms.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Spanish MV Hondius passenger is the latest person to test positive for hantavirus. (Reuters: Borja Suarez)<\/p>\n

The governor of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha said in a statement on Monday that medical staff on Ascension Island who had treated a confirmed case were being relocated to Britain and that replacement clinicians would be flown in to maintain healthcare on the island.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On May 10, the UK Ministry of Defence shared photos of soldiers parachuting onto Tristan de Cunha island, which does not have an airstrip.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

“The operation saw specialist paratroopers and military clinicians from 16 Air Assault Brigade jump from an RAF A400M, alongside the air drop of vital oxygen supplies and medical equipment,” it said on Facebook.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“With no airstrip and access only by boat, an airborne insertion was the fastest way to support the island following confirmation of a suspected hantavirus case.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

New medical clinicians were dropped on the island after a suspected hantavirus case was reported. (Supplied: UK Ministry of Defence)<\/p>\n

On Saint Helena, Governor Nigel Phillips said a small number of people who had travelled on the cruise ship were assessed as higher-risk contacts.<\/p>\n

While the likelihood of illness remained low, UKHSA advised they should also be moved to Britain to complete their isolation.<\/p>\n

A French passenger infected with hantavirus has become critically ill and is being treated with an artificial lung in Paris.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Twenty-five crew members are sailing the MV Hondius to Rotterdam after passengers were evacuated in the Canary Islands. (Reuters: Borja Suarez)<\/p>\n

Eleven cases have been reported in total, nine of which have been confirmed.<\/p>\n

Three people on the Oceanwide Expeditions cruise died, including a Dutch couple health officials believe were exposed to the virus while visiting South America.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

A French passenger with a severe infection is on a ventilator in intensive care. (Reuters: Abdul Saboor)<\/p>\n

The French passenger has a severe form of the disease, causing life-threatening lung and heart problems, according to Bichat Hospital infectious disease specialist Xavier Lescure.<\/p>\n

French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said it was uncertain whether the hantavirus strain involved in the outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship had mutated, though officials had felt “reassured” by the signs so far.<\/p>\n

“There are things \u2026 we do not know about this virus,” she told the National Assembly.<\/p>\n

The French health ministry did not respond to a request for additional comment.<\/p>\n

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It was meant to be the journey of a lifetime for travel influencer Jake Rosmarin, but his voyage across the south Atlantic turned into a nightmare after three people were killed by hantavirus.<\/p>\n

Pasteur Institute epidemiologist Olivier Schwartz later said: “So far, two viruses from the current cluster have been sequenced. One was in Zurich in Switzerland, which was the first case.<\/p>\n

“Another sequence was obtained at the Pasteur Institute.<\/p>\n

“What we saw was that this sequence was very similar to the one from Zurich \u2026 the risk [of a variant] exists, but for now there is no evidence of it.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Four Australians arrived in the Netherlands yesterday as part of the evacuation from the MV Hondius. (Reuters: Piroschka van de Wouw)<\/p>\n

With the evacuation of all passengers and many crew members completed, the MV Hondius is now sailing back to the Netherlands, where it will be disinfected.<\/p>\n

‘Play it safe’<\/p>\n

A Dutch hospital has quarantined 12 staff members as a preventive measure after blood and urine from a hantavirus patient were handled without the observation of strict protocols.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

After leaving the Netherlands, Australian passengers will quarantine at the Bullsbrook National Resilience Facility in Perth. (ABC News: Mitch Edgar)<\/p>\n

The 12 people will be quarantined for six weeks, the Radboudumc hospital in the city of Nijmegen said, adding the infection risk was very low and patient care continued uninterrupted.<\/p>\n

The Radboudumc hospital admitted its hantavirus patient, a passenger from the cruise ship, on May 7.<\/p>\n

“What happened \u2026 is that strict procedures were followed, but not the very strictest procedures that apply in cases involving this hantavirus,” Dutch Health Minister Sophie Hermans told parliament.<\/p>\n

“The likelihood that staff have been infected as a result is small, but because we know we are dealing with a serious virus, [the hospital] has said, ‘We will play it safe.’<\/p>\n

“It really is a different situation than with COVID.”<\/p>\n

Hermans said she was confident the Dutch government could “keep this virus under control” and WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak”.<\/p>\n

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A rodent-borne illness is suspected of causing the deaths of three cruise ship passengers and leaving others sick. Here’s what we know about the illness.<\/p>\n

“But of course the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, it’s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks,” Dr Ghebreyesus said.<\/p>\n

The latest person confirmed to be infected is a Spanish passenger who tested positive for hantavirus after being evacuated from the ship, according to Spain’s health ministry.<\/p>\n

The passenger was in quarantine at a military hospital in Madrid.<\/p>\n

Argentina sending experts to investigate source of outbreak<\/p>\n

Argentina’s health ministry says a team of scientific experts will be dispatched in the coming days to investigate the origin of outbreak.<\/p>\n

The Dutch couple identified by the WHO as the first cruise passengers infected spent several months in Argentina and neighbouring South American countries.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Argentina’s health ministry has deployed medical experts to investigate the outbreak’s origin. (AP: Euge Neme)<\/p>\n

Argentine officials have said the couple took a bird-watching tour that included a stop at a garbage dump where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.<\/p>\n

The health ministry said its team would investigate the landfill and other locations the couple visited.<\/p>\n

Arnaud Fontanet, head of Epidemiology of Emerging Diseases at France’s Pasteur Institute, said the hunt for new cases could drag on for months because of the six-week incubation period.<\/p>\n

He told Reuters the situation presented “a good way for us to try to test all that has been done since COVID-19”, in terms of checking how international coordination was working.<\/p>\n

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