Spain confirms to receive hantavirus-hit cruise ship

Spain’s Health Ministry has confirmed that the country will receive the Dutch-operated cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak at one of its ports in the Canary Islands.

The outbreak aboard the MV Hondius has infected eight people and resulted in three deaths, prompting a major international public health response involving countries across Europe, Africa and Latin America.

The ship is currently sailing for the Canary Islands. Passengers abroad have been asked to remain in their cabins while being disinfected. Anyone who develops symptoms will be isolated immediately.

Arrival in the Canary Islands was expected in “three to four days”, the ministry said, without specifying the port.

Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said on Wednesday that Spain has a moral and legal obligation to assist these passengers, among whom are also several Spanish citizens.

Spanish authorities will set up a medical evacuation and repatriation mechanism for passengers upon arrival, Garcia said.

Unless their medical condition prevents it, all passengers will be repatriated to their countries through a civil protection mechanism, the minister added.

Regarding the 14 Spanish nationals on board, Garcia said they would undergo medical examinations before being transported to Madrid aboard a military aircraft for quarantine at the Gomez Ulla military hospital.

Spain has activated the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism, which helps mobilize assistance among member states to deal with emergencies, said the minister.

The U.S. Court of International Trade on Thursday ruled that U.S. President Donald Trump’s new global tariff is illegal, invalidating his 10 percent tariffs on most U.S. imports.

The court ruled that Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 allows tariffs only when there are “large and serious balance-of-payment deficits.”

“But no such thing exists,” Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield’s office said in a release. “A trade deficit is not a balance-of-payment deficit. As the court ruled, the President’s tariffs proclamation is invalid, and the tariffs imposed on Plaintiffs are unauthorized by law.”

The Trump administration initially invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose universal tariffs worldwide in April 2025. The Supreme Court ruled those tariffs were unlawful in February this year.

Trump then immediately resorted to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 and announced a 10 percent ad valorem duty on “all articles imported into the United States,” supposedly in response to trade deficits.

The duty went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Feb 24, 2026, and is set to remain in effect until 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on July 24, 2026, unless “suspended, modified, or terminated on an earlier date” or “extended by an Act of the Congress.” In the face of the new global tariff, a coalition of 24 U.S. states filed their respective complaints in March 2026.