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<\/p>\nTHE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) \u2014 A Spanish passenger evacuated from the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak has tested positive for the virus, Spain\u2019s health ministry announced Tuesday as the World Health Organization said it has now confirmed nine cases. Three people on the cruise died.<\/p>\n
The passenger with the new confirmed case of hantavirus was in quarantine at a military hospital in Madrid, where 13 other Spanish nationals evacuated Sunday also are staying. They all tested negative for the virus.<\/p>\n
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Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gives a press conference at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Carlos Luj\u00e1n\/Europa Press via AP)<\/p>\n
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Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez, left, and Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attend a press conference at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Carlos Luj\u00e1n\/Europa Press via AP)<\/p>\n
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Passengers board a plane bound for Eindhoven, after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Arturo Rodriguez)<\/p>\n
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The hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius is seen at anchor at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Arturo Rodriguez)<\/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 cleaned and disinfected.<\/p>\n
The director of the World Health Organization, who was in Madrid, said 11 cases reported worldwide are all among passengers or crew of the MV Hondius cruise ship. Nine have been confirmed as infections of the Andes virus, a member of the hantavirus family. Two suspected hantavirus cases have been reported but not confirmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese numbers have changed little over the past week thanks to the governments of multiple countries and partners,\u201d said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,\u201d he added, \u201cbut of course the situation could change, and given the long incubation period of the virus, it\u2019s possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, 12 staff members at a Dutch hospital where a hantavirus patient is being treated were told to quarantine after incorrectly handling bodily fluids.<\/p>\n
In a Paris hospital, a French woman evacuated from the stricken ship remained in intensive care in stable condition. The French government was holding two new hantavirus emergency meetings Tuesday, the prime minister said.<\/p>\n
Health authorities say it\u2019s the first hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship. While there is no cure or vaccine for hantavirus, the WHO says early detection and treatment improves survival rates.<\/p>\n
A total of 87 passengers and 35 crew were escorted from the ship to shore in Tenerife by personnel in full-body protective gear and breathing masks in a carefully choreographed effort that ended Monday night. Remaining crew members then took on supplies and set course for the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, the ship\u2019s operator Oceanwide Expeditions said.<\/p>\n
Two aircraft arrived in the southern Dutch city of Eindhoven overnight. The first was carrying 19 of the ship\u2019s crew and three medics. The Dutch nationals were taken home to quarantine and the others, including 17 crew members from the Philippines, were sent to a quarantine facility set up by Dutch health authorities.<\/p>\n
A second plane landed later in Eindhoven chartered by Australian authorities and carrying six Hondius passengers \u2014 four Australians, one person from New Zealand and a British national who lives in Australia, according to the Dutch foreign ministry. It said the passengers will remain in quarantine near the airport and continue their journey toward Australia \u201cas soon as possible.\u201d Australian authorities did not immediately respond to a request for more details.<\/p>\n
Hantavirus usually spreads from rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms \u2014 which can include fever, chills and muscle aches \u2014 usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.<\/p>\n
WHO chief Tedros has advised that returning passengers should stay in quarantine, either in their homes or in other facilities, for 42 days. He added that WHO cannot enforce its guidance, and that different countries may handle the monitoring of passengers without symptoms in different ways.<\/p>\n
Twelve employees at a Dutch hospital where a passenger from the Hondius is being treated have to quarantine for six weeks after improperly handling bodily fluids, Radboud University Medical Center said in a statement Monday night.<\/p>\n
The \u201crisk of infection is low\u201d the hospital said, but was requiring the dozen employees to go into preventive quarantine as a \u201cprecaution.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hospital in the eastern city of Nijmegen received a passenger last week from one of the evacuation flights that landed in the Netherlands and the person has since tested positive for hantavirus.<\/p>\n
Blood and urine from the patient should have been handled \u201caccording to a stricter procedure,\u201d the hospital said.<\/p>\n
Associated Press writers Suman Naishadham in Madrid, Molly Quell in The Hague, Netherlands, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.<\/p>\n
Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gives a press conference at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Carlos Luj\u00e1n\/Europa Press via AP)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez, left, and Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attend a press conference at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Carlos Luj\u00e1n\/Europa Press via AP)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Passengers board a plane bound for Eindhoven, after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Arturo Rodriguez)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius is seen at anchor at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Arturo Rodriguez)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting for his political survival after a disastrous set of results in local elections for his Labour Party last week.<\/p>\n Dozens of Labour lawmakers are calling on Starmer to resign, though several ministers publicly spoke of their support for Starmer as they left a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The prime minister has insisted he has no intention of resigning. Starmer could be forced out if one-fifth of sitting Labour lawmakers, or at least 80 or them, agree to back a lawmaker to challenge him. So far, no formal leadership challenge has been triggered. <\/p>\n In a blow to Starmer, a junior minister became the first member of his government to quit on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Here’s the latest:<\/p>\n Amid a flurry of calls within Starmer\u2019s Labour Party for him to step down, British media report that some 100 lawmakers signed a statement supporting the prime minister.<\/p>\n The BBC, Press Association and others reported that lawmakers urged party members to \u201cwork together to deliver the change the country needs\u201d after Labour suffered heavy losses at local elections across the U.K. last week.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must focus on that. This is no time for a leadership contest,\u201d the statement reportedly said.<\/p>\n In a statement about the Cabinet meeting earlier Tuesday, Starmer\u2019s office said senior ministers are focused on the conflict in the Middle East and getting the Strait of Hormuz reopened.<\/p>\n It made no mention of the growing calls from Labour lawmakers for Starmer to resign, or his pledge to \u201cget on with governing.\u201d<\/p>\n Starmer appeared to be carrying on with the business of government, chairing a committee on responding to the Middle East conflict around noon.<\/p>\n Alex Davies-Jones, the minister for tackling violence against women and girls, wrote in a letter to Starmer to \u201cact in the country\u2019s interest and set out a timetable for your departure.\u201d<\/p>\n She called Starmer a \u201cgood and honest man,\u201d but described the scale of Labour\u2019s defeat at last week\u2019s local elections as \u201ccatastrophic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe country has spoken and we must listen,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWe waited fourteen years to get into power and change the lives of those we represent. The time now is for bold, radical action.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have needed to do more and therefore it is with a very heavy heart that I feel I have no choice but to resign,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Keir Starmer has lost a second member of his government amid a growing chorus of Labour Party members to resign.<\/p>\n Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister, announced her resignation in a letter Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI think you are a good man fundamentally, who cares about the right things,\u201d she wrote. \u201cHowever I have seen first-hand how that is not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know you care deeply, but deeds, not words are what matter,\u201d she added. \u201cI want a Labour government to work and I will strive as I always have for its success and popularity, but I\u2019m not seeing the change I think I, and the country expect, and so cannot continue to serve as a minister under the current leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n The political crisis engulfing Starmer\u2019s government comes just hours ahead of the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday.<\/p>\n King Charles III will deliver the King\u2019s Speech to mark the beginning of a new parliamentary year. The speech, which is written by officials but read out by the monarch, will set out the government\u2019s legislative agenda for the coming months.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as I\u2019m aware, the King\u2019s Speech is going ahead tomorrow,\u201d Starmer\u2019s chief secretary, Darren Jones, said.<\/p>\n At least 80 out of Labour\u2019s 403 lawmakers have now demanded the prime minister stand down, or at least set out a timetable for his departure, after Labour suffered heavy losses in local elections last week.<\/p>\n However, so far no Labour lawmaker has announced they will challenge Starmer for the leadership.<\/p>\n While there is no clear frontrunner to replace Starmer, here are some of the leading contenders for the top job:<\/p>\n A cabinet member in Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s government said there was no direct challenge to his leadership at Tuesday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n Jenny Chapman, minister of international development, said she did not think Starmer\u2019s authority had been destroyed by dozens of Labour Party members calling for him to step down.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not what I have just seen around the Cabinet table,\u201d she told reporters outside 10 Downing St. \u201cI saw a Cabinet united and focused on dealing with the issues that are confronting the British people.\u201d<\/p>\n U.K. Health Secretary Wes Streeting, long believed to be preparing for a leadership challenge against U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, didn\u2019t comment as he left the Cabinet meeting at Downing Street.<\/p>\n \u201cWes Streeting, do you want the job, or not?\u201d one person yelled from across the street. \u201cAre you measuring the curtains?\u201d<\/p>\n He was among senior ministers who dodged a barrage of shouted questions from a scrum of reporters gathered outside.<\/p>\n U.K. Business Secretary Peter Kyle has voiced support for embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n Starmer is showing \u201creally steadfast leadership,\u201d Kyle told reporters as he left the Cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n Kyle says the meeting discussed the economy and issues facing society. He said that he was on his way to Brussels to deepen the U.K. relationship with the European Union \u2014 one of the goals Starmer announced Monday as he delivered a speech aimed at winning back support.<\/p>\n A U.K. official says that nobody had yet made a challenge to the leadership of U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe prime minister talked about the challenges we faced as a country, the crisis in the Middle East and the impact on the cost of living here,\u201d Liz Kendall, the secretary of science, innovation and technology, told reporters as she left a Cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n \u201cThis government will do what we were elected to do, which is serve the British people. The prime minister has my full support in this,\u201d Kendall said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a process to challenge the leader. Nobody has made that challenge,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n U.K. Treasury chief Rachel Reeves won\u2019t be taking part in a London risk summit that she was due to appear at after attending a Cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n Her place will be taken by Treasury minister Lucy Rigby.<\/p>\n U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s government is in turmoil as dozens of Labour Party lawmakers joined calls for him to quit, after poor local election results for the party last week.<\/p>\n Housing Secretary Steve Reed has urged Labour Party colleagues to support Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he faces calls to step down.<\/p>\n Reed posted a message on social media during a meeting of Starmer\u2019s Cabinet.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not a game,\u201d Reed said on X. \u201cThis instability has consequences for people\u2019s lives. The people who will be hurt most will be those that elected us less than two years ago. We must unite behind the Prime Minister.\u201d<\/p>\n The Treasury confirmed that Rachel Reeves has pulled out of a London risk summit she was expected to take part in after attending a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Her place will be taken by Treasury minister Lucy Rigby.<\/p>\n U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s government is in turmoil as dozens of his Labour Party lawmakers joined calls for him to quit Tuesday.<\/p>\n U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer doubled down Tuesday on his resolve to stay in office, despite calls to step down.<\/p>\n Starmer told Cabinet ministers that he took responsibility for devastating losses that his center-left Labour Party suffered in last week\u2019s local elections across the U.K., but he would fight on.<\/p>\n Starmer said there\u2019s a process to oust a leader and that hadn\u2019t been triggered.<\/p>\n \u201cThe country expects us to get on with governing,\u201d he said. \u201dThat is what I am doing and what we must do.\u201d<\/p>\n U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer lost the first member of his government Tuesday as he faced pressure to step down following losses in local elections.<\/p>\n Housing, communities and local government minister Miatta Fahnbulleh stepped down and urged Starmer \u201cto do the right thing for the country\u201d and set a timetable to step aside.<\/p>\n Fahnbulleh, a junior minister who is considered to be on the left of the party, said that she was proud of her service, but that the government hadn’t acted with the vision, pace and mandate for change it had been given by voters.<\/p>\n The next U.K. national election doesn\u2019t have to be held until 2029, but British politics allows parties to change leader midterm without the need for a general election.<\/p>\n If it comes to it, the simplest option would be for U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer to announce his intention to resign, triggering an election for the Labour leadership. A resignation announcement could possibly come if members of his Cabinet tell Starmer in their regular meeting on Tuesday that he has lost too much support within the party.<\/p>\n If Starmer doesn\u2019t resign, he could face a challenge from one or more Labour lawmakers.<\/p>\n Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office leaves 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting in London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026 as Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing the biggest threat yet to his authority after a growing number of disaffected lawmakers called for him to step down.(AP Photo\/Kirsty Wigglesworth)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Cameras are covered with rain covers as journalists wait for a showing of Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer at 10 Downing Street in London, Monday, May 11, 2026.(AP Photo\/Alberto Pezzali)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy arrives for a cabinet meeting in Downing Street, London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026 as Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing the biggest threat yet to his authority after a growing number of disaffected lawmakers called for him to step down.(AP Photo\/Kirsty Wigglesworth)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero Ed Miliband arrives for a cabinet meeting in Downing Street, London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026 as Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing the biggest threat yet to his authority after a growing number of disaffected lawmakers called for him to step down.(AP Photo\/Kirsty Wigglesworth)<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n
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