The World Health Organization (WHO) chief arrived in Spain Saturday to oversee the evacuation and safe disembarkation of more than 140 passengers and crew aboard the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius, as countries across Europe and beyond scrambled to fly home their citizens amid fears over the rare outbreak.
According to Reuters, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was travelling to Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands along with senior Spanish officials to supervise the operation after the Dutch-flagged vessel reported multiple infections and three deaths linked to hantavirus.
“WHO continues to actively monitor the situation, coordinate support and next steps and will keep Member States and the public updated accordingly. So far, the risk for the population of Canary Islands and globally remains low,” Tedros posted on X.
To the people of Tenerife,
My name is Tedros, and I serve as the Director-General of the @WHO, the @UN agency responsible for global public health. It is not common for me to write directly to the people of a single community, but today I feel it is not only appropriate, it is… pic.twitter.com/lx05ji4a79
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) May 9, 2026
The MV Hondius is expected to dock in Tenerife early Sunday, where passengers will undergo screening before being transferred to isolated areas under strict health protocols, AP reported.
Countries prepare emergency evacuations
Reuters reported that Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands have confirmed they will send aircraft to evacuate their nationals from the ship. The European Union is also dispatching additional planes for remaining European citizens, while the United States and the United Kingdom are arranging contingency evacuation plans for their citizens.
Spanish authorities said passengers would only be allowed to disembark once their evacuation flights are ready.
AP reported that Spain has activated the EU civil protection mechanism to keep a specialised medical evacuation aircraft on standby in case any passenger develops symptoms during the operation.
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The head of Spain’s emergency services, Virginia Barcones, said passengers would be taken to a “completely isolated, cordoned-off area” after disembarkation, according to AP.
Three dead, multiple infections confirmed
The outbreak aboard the Hondius has so far resulted in three deaths — a Dutch couple and a German national — while several others from Britain, the Netherlands, and Switzerland remain hospitalised in South Africa, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, Reuters reported.
The WHO said six of the eight suspected cases aboard the ship have been confirmed as hantavirus infections.
The outbreak has alarmed health officials because laboratory testing identified the strain as the Andes virus — the only known hantavirus variant capable of limited human-to-human transmission through close and prolonged contact, according to Reuters.
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Suspected cases emerge beyond the ship
Health authorities are now monitoring possible cases linked to passengers who had already disembarked before the outbreak was fully identified.
Reuters reported that a woman in Spain’s Alicante region developed symptoms consistent with hantavirus after sitting near an infected Dutch passenger on a flight from Johannesburg.
Another suspected case emerged on Tristan da Cunha, a remote British territory in the South Atlantic where the ship had stopped in April. British authorities said the suspected patient was a passenger aboard the Hondius.
The outbreak has triggered international contact tracing operations across four continents as authorities attempt to locate passengers and monitor possible exposures.
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Who is on the ground
Tedros joins Spanish ministers in Tenerife as Hondius approaches port
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived in Spain on Saturday and is travelling to Tenerife with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska. The MV Hondius is expected to dock in the Canary Islands in the early hours of Sunday. Tedros said he was in contact with the captain and a WHO colleague on board, and that no one currently aboard is showing symptoms.
“WHO continues to actively monitor the situation, coordinate support and next steps and will keep Member States and the public updated accordingly. So far, the risk for the population of Canary Islands and globally remains low.”
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, on X, May 9, 2026
Multi-nation evacuation
A six-flag operation to clear the ship
Spanish citizens disembark first. Citizens of other countries cannot leave the ship until their evacuation aircraft is ready to depart, Interior Minister Grande-Marlaska said. Order of evacuation will be set by health authorities.
5
Five EU nations sending planes
Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands have confirmed evacuation aircraft for their nationals on board.
+2
EU adds two more aircraft
The European Union is sending two further planes for the remaining European citizens on the Hondius.
17
US: 17 citizens to Omaha
A “medical repatriation flight” will take Americans to the University of Nebraska in Omaha for quarantine, the US CDC confirmed.
UK
UK arranging contingency flights
The United Kingdom has confirmed planes and contingency plans for non-EU citizens whose countries cannot send air transport.
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Cordoned-off arrival zone
Spain’s emergency services chief Virginia Barcones said passengers will be taken to a “completely isolated, cordoned-off area” the moment they disembark.
6w
Six-week home quarantine
Per a Dutch parliament letter, asymptomatic passengers will go into home quarantine for six weeks under local health monitoring.
⊘
Luggage and the deceased stay aboard
Passengers may take only essential belongings. Remaining luggage and the body of the passenger who died on board will be taken to the Netherlands for disinfection.
Outbreak at a glance
What the WHO and CDC numbers show
A first-of-its-kind shipboard hantavirus outbreak — small in absolute terms but heavy in fatality rate. The CDC has classified its response as “Level 3”, the lowest tier of emergency activation.
147
Passengers and crew on board when cluster first reported
8
People ill aboard the ship (WHO tally)
6
Confirmed as hantavirus
3
Dead — Dutch couple and a German national
4
Still hospitalised in Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland
34
Passengers had left the ship before the alert
2
Suspected cases off-ship — Alicante (Spain), Tristan da Cunha (UK)
Level 3
CDC emergency response — its lowest activation tier
What is Andes virus
The only hantavirus known to pass between humans
Hantavirus is normally spread by inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people. Testing has determined the Hondius outbreak involves the Andes virus — the only hantavirus species known to be capable of limited human-to-human transmission, through close and prolonged contact, according to the WHO. The Hondius outbreak is the first such outbreak documented on a ship.
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Symptom incubation: 1 to 8 weeks
Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure — a long tail that complicates contact tracing.
!
Up to 50% fatality rate
The WHO puts case fatality rates among infected people in the United States at up to 50%.
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Risk to wider public: low
WHO technical officer Anais Legand said the agency continues to consider the risk low for the general population, based on the dynamics of how the virus is — and isn’t — spreading.
✓
First reassuring test: KLM attendant negative
A flight attendant on the Johannesburg–Amsterdam plane briefly boarded by an infected cruise passenger has tested negative for hantavirus.
“The risk remains absolutely low. This is not a new COVID.”
— Christian Lindmeier, WHO spokesman, May 9, 2026
One flight, four continents
How the contact-trace went global
From an Antarctic-bound cruise to a hospital in Johannesburg and a suspected case in Alicante — the Hondius story is now being chased across four continents.
April 13–15, 2026
MV Hondius docks at Tristan da Cunha, the world’s remotest inhabited island. A British passenger from this stop is later reported as a suspected case.
April 24, 2026
More than two dozen people from at least 12 countries — 34 in total over the voyage — leave the Hondius without contact tracing, nearly two weeks after the first onboard death.
April 25, 2026
The Johannesburg flight. A KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam is briefly boarded by a Dutch woman whose husband had died on the ship. Too ill to fly, she is taken off in Johannesburg and later dies in hospital.
April 25, 2026
A separate flight from St Helena to Johannesburg — the day after passengers disembarked there — becomes a focus of South African contact tracing.
May 2, 2026
Health authorities confirm hantavirus in a Hondius passenger for the first time, the WHO says.
May 8, 2026
Alicante: a passenger two rows back. A 32-year-old woman in southeastern Spain reports mild respiratory symptoms after sitting two rows behind the Dutch woman on the April 25 flight. She is being tested for hantavirus.
May 9, 2026 — today
Tedros lands in Spain. The WHO chief travels to Tenerife with Spain’s health and interior ministers ahead of the Hondius’s expected dawn arrival on Sunday.
Sources: Reuters · Associated Press · PTI
WHO says public risk remains low
Despite concerns over international spread, WHO officials have repeatedly stressed that the overall public risk remains low.
“Based on the dynamics of this outbreak, based on how it is spreading and not spreading amongst the people on the ship, the people who have disembarked, as well, we continue to consider the risk as low for the general population,” WHO technical officer Anais Legand said during an online briefing, according to Reuters.
AP also reported that WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier sought to calm fears after concerns surfaced about a flight attendant who briefly interacted with an infected passenger.
“The risk remains absolutely low,” Lindmeier said. “This is not a new COVID.”
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What is hantavirus?
Hantavirus is a rare but potentially deadly disease usually spread through exposure to infected rodent urine, droppings, or saliva.
People typically become infected after inhaling virus particles from contaminated dust in enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces.
Symptoms can appear between one and eight weeks after exposure and may initially resemble flu-like illness, including:
- Fever
- Muscle aches
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Chills
In severe cases, patients may develop respiratory failure and fluid buildup in the lungs.
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According to Reuters, the WHO estimates fatality rates among infected people in the United States can reach up to 50%.
Why the cruise ship outbreak is unusual
The Hondius outbreak is the first documented hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship.
The ship had departed Argentina in March and travelled through Antarctica and the South Atlantic before authorities identified the outbreak.
By the time hantavirus was officially confirmed in a passenger on May 2, more than two dozen passengers from at least 12 countries had already left the vessel without contact tracing, according to AP and Reuters.
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Health authorities across Europe, Africa, North America, and the South Atlantic are continuing surveillance and quarantine efforts as the ship approaches Tenerife.
