06/05/2026 – 22:16
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06/05/2026 – 21:50Argentina to carry out rodent trapping and analysis in Ushuaia
Argentina’s health ministry has announced it will carry out rodent trapping and analysis in Ushuaia, where the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak originated.
06/05/2026 – 21:43No Brits have reported any hantavirus symptoms, health agency says
No Brits who are currently onboard the MV Hondius, or who have been onboard and have since returned to Britain, have reported any hantavirus symptoms, the UK Health Security Agency said.
06/05/2026 – 20:20Hantavirus ship evacuees need new plane to leave Canaries, Spanish health ministry says
Two evacuees from a ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak and whose flight to Amsterdam unexpectedly landed in the Canary Islands will need a new plane to leave the archipelago after a technical fault, the Spanish health ministry said.
After arriving in Gran Canaria to refuel, the plane’s doctor “reported a fault in the electrical support system” of a patient, health ministry sources said. “Therefore, the patient remains on the plane with the airport’s electrical supply awaiting the arrival of a new plane to continue their journey.”
06/05/2026 – 20:17Researchers say hantavirus is on the rise due to climate change
Higher temperatures expand the virus’ range because, in part, as it gets warmer and ecosystems change, rodents that carry the virus can thrive in more places, experts say.
“With the climate changing, the epidemiological picture has completely changed,” said Hugo Pizzi, a prominent Argentine infectious disease specialist. “The ship may be an isolated case. But this virus isn’t going anywhere.”
06/05/2026 – 19:59Flight with passengers from cruise at center of hantavirus outbreak arrives at Amsterdam airport, will head to hospitals
A plane believed to be carrying at least one passenger from the hantavirus-cruise ship arrived in Amsterdam, AFP reporters saw, after emergency evacuation from the vessel off the Cape Verde coast.
The air ambulance that took off from Praia airport landed at Schiphol Airport at 7:47 pm local time (1747 GMT), according to AFP reporters on the scene. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 also reported the plane as landed.
There has been no official confirmation of the next steps, but Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) said in a statement doctors were preparing to admit one patient from the ship.
“The department where the patient is admitted is prepared to care for patients with serious infectious diseases,” said the hospital.
“During the treatment of a patient suspected of having a serious infectious disease at the LUMC, all precautionary measures are taken to prevent spread.”
It assured other patients there was no risk of infection.
06/05/2026 – 19:52Hantavirus-hit cruise ship departs from Cape Verde
Spain’s health minister has said the vessel will dock within the next three days in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, and all foreign passengers will be flown back to their home countries from there if their health allows.
06/05/2026 – 19:51Plane with hantavirus ship evacuees in Spain to fix ‘broken isolation bubble’
A plane carrying evacuees from a ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak arrived in Spain’s Canary Islands to fix a patient’s isolation bubble after Morocco refused a landing request, regional government sources said.
“A patient’s isolation bubble was broken. And they stopped to fix it,” the sources said, adding: “No person will disembark or board. It is a technical stop.”
According to monitor Flightradar24, the plane is due to carry out another stopover in the southern Spanish city of Malaga before reaching Amsterdam.
06/05/2026 – 18:33What are the symptoms of an hantavirus infection, and can it be treated?
Hantaviruses common in different parts of the world cause different symptoms or diseases — and some cause none at all. Symptoms typically begin one to eight weeks after exposure and may include fever, muscle aches and gastrointestinal issues, according to the WHO, although a typical incubation period would be closer to around two to three weeks, said Andrew Pollard, a professor at Oxford University’s Pandemic Sciences Institute.
The Andes hantavirus and other hantaviruses in the Americas can cause hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome, which progresses quickly and leads to fluid buildup in the lungs along with heart complications. Fatality rates from hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome are up to 50%, the WHO says, compared to 1-15% from the infections common in Asia and Europe.
There is no specific treatment for infection from hantavirus, so current therapy focuses on supportive care, including rest and fluids. Patients may need breathing support such as a ventilator.
During outbreaks, contact tracing can give others potentially exposed to the virus earlier access to hospital care, improving outcomes and preventing further spread.
06/05/2026 – 18:16South Africa ID’s 62 hantavirus contact cases, 42 of them tracked down so far
Health officials are tracking down dozens of people in South Africa who might’ve been near infected passengers. Two passengers left the cruise ship in South Africa. One has died and the other remains hospitalized.
South African health officials have identified 62 people — airplane passengers, airport workers, health workers, hospital cleaners, port of entry officials — who likely had contact with those two patients.
So far, officials have tracked down 42 of them, and none tested positive for hantavirus. However, some of the 20 people still being traced may have now traveled overseas, the health ministry said in a report.
06/05/2026 – 18:11WHO says confirmed hantavirus cases from cruise ship has risen to 5
The World Health Organization says the number of confirmed hantavirus cases from the infected cruise ship has now risen to five, including the two passengers who were evacuated earlier today.
06/05/2026 – 17:34Plane that left Cape Verde after hantavirus ship evacuations lands in Canaries
One of two planes that left Cape Verde following the evacuation of three people from a ship struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has landed in Spain’s Canary Islands.
At least one of the two planes is due to go to Amsterdam, but no arrival in the Canary Islands has been confirmed by authorities.
06/05/2026 – 17:21Person who died of hantavirus ‘briefly’ on KLM flight, airline says
A passenger who later died of hantavirus was “briefly” on board a KLM flight from Johannesburg to the Netherlands, but was removed before take-off, the airline said in a statement.
“Due to the passenger’s medical condition at the time, the crew decided not to allow the passenger to travel on the flight,” which was flight KL592 from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25 at 11:15pm local time.
“After the passenger was removed from the aircraft, the flight departed for the Netherlands,” KLM said.
Dutch health authorities are contacting those who were aboard this flight “as a precaution,” it added.
06/05/2026 – 17:20Canarians worry arrival of hantavirus cruise ship will bring repeat of Covid quarantines
The arrival in Spain’s Canary Islands this weekend of the MV Hondius cruise ship, which has been hit by an hantavirus outbreak, has revived residents’ memories of the quarantines imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ship is expected to reach Tenerife on Saturday, where it will dock after Spain agreed to requests from the World Health Organization to receive it despite protests from the local government.
The news was stirring fears that hospitals and health centres on Tenerife would have to be locked down, said a nurse who asked not to be identified.
“It will be just like Covid … People are worried about their children, elderly relatives and the vulnerable,” the nurse said, adding that the islands’ quarantine protocol for viruses, if one was declared, would affect schools and healthcare centres.
06/05/2026 – 17:06French citizen was on same plane as hantavirus case, ministry says
A Frenchman was being monitored as a hantavirus “contact case” after he travelled on the same plane as a cruise ship passenger suffering from the respiratory disease, French authorities have said.
A Dutch woman died in South Africa on April 26 after having left the cruise following the death of her husband.
Officials are trying to trace people on the commercial flight that transported her from the island of Saint Helena to Johannesburg, which South African-based carrier Airlink said was carrying 82 passengers and six crew.
“A French national has in particular been identified among the passengers on a flight taken by one of the cases before they were hospitalised,” a spokeswoman for France’s health ministry said.
06/05/2026 – 16:32Investigators say cruise ship couple possibly got hantavirus bird-watching in Argentina
Two Argentine officials investigating the origins of the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship that sailed from southern Argentina say the government’s leading hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching outing in the city of Ushuaia before boarding.
They said the couple visited a landfill during the bird-watching tour where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity. The investigation is ongoing.
Previously authorities said that Ushuaia and the surrounding province of Tierra del Fuego had never recorded a case of the hantavirus.
06/05/2026 – 16:23WHO confirms eight suspected hantavirus cases so far
A total of eight people on board the MV Hondius are suspected to have contracted the hantavirus, with three of them confirmed by laboratory testing, the World Health Organisation said.
Three people – a Dutch couple and a German national – have so far died in the outbreak.
A Swiss citizen has returned home and is being treated in Zurich. Three others were evacuated from the vessel today.
06/05/2026 – 15:35Passenger says people on ship are ‘social distancing’
A passenger on board the MV Hondius told Reuters the ship’s captain was keeping passengers updated and that those on board had been advised to limit close contact with other passengers and use hand sanitizer regularly.
“People are taking the situation seriously but without any panic, trying to keep social distancing and wearing masks to be safe,” Kasem Hato said.
“Our days have been close to normal, just waiting for authorities to find a solution, but morale on the ship is high and we’re keeping ourselves busy with reading, watching movies, having hot drinks, and that kind of thing.”
06/05/2026 – 14:44Hantavirus outbreak not like start of Covid pandemic, WHO chief says
The WHO chief said he does not believe a deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, which has sparked international alarm, has similarities with the start of the Covid pandemic.
Asked if the World Health Organization deemed the hantavirus situation similar to the emergency at the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “No, I don’t think so.”
06/05/2026 – 14:25Hantavirus ship will dock at Granadilla in Tenerife, Spanish minister says
A cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak will dock “within three days” at Granadilla on the island of Tenerife, Spain’s health minister said, despite opposition from the Canary Islands regional government.
“A joint system for health assessment and evacuation will be put in place to repatriate all passengers, unless their medical condition prevents it,” Health Minister Monica Garcia Gomez told a Madrid news conference.