The ship, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, started its voyage from Ushuaia in Argentina on April 1 and reached Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday after the outbreak was reported. Around 150 people, including the two Indian crew members, were on board.
The Indian mission said passengers disembarked under protocols set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Spanish authorities.
“As informed by the Spanish National Centre for Emergency Monitoring and Coordination (CENEM), the two Indian nationals who were travelling as crew members have been evacuated to the Netherlands, where they will be quarantined as per relevant health safety protocol,” the embassy said in a statement posted on social media.
The embassy added that Indian Ambassador to Spain Jayant N. Khobragade was in close contact with Spanish authorities and the two Indian nationals to ensure their safety and well-being.
Three dead, five infected as countries begin evacuation operations
Three people have died since the outbreak was first reported. According to AP, five passengers who left the ship earlier tested positive for hantavirus.
Passengers from more than 20 countries began leaving the ship after it anchored in Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands. Evacuation flights organised by several governments continued through Sunday and were expected to last until Monday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said WHO experts were working with Spain’s Health Ministry to assess the outbreak and coordinate charter flights with the Interior Ministry.
“Exterior Health confirms that all are asymptomatic,” Tedros said after the evacuation process began.
The operation included disinfection procedures and the use of personal protective equipment during passenger transfers. Video footage from Tenerife showed passengers and port workers wearing protective suits, respirators and face masks during the evacuation process.
Spanish passengers were flown to Madrid and taken to a military hospital. French passengers arriving in Paris were met by emergency vehicles after one of the five evacuees developed symptoms during the flight. French authorities said all five passengers were placed in strict isolation and would undergo testing.
A Dutch evacuation flight carrying 26 people, including passengers from India, Germany, Argentina, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Ukraine, Guatemala, the Philippines and Montenegro, landed in Eindhoven on Sunday evening. Dutch authorities said local health agencies would arrange quarantine measures.
US says ‘This is not Covid’ as one American tests positive
The United States said it would repatriate 17 Americans from the MV Hondius. Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya said the passengers, who were initially asymptomatic, would be assessed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and may not necessarily require quarantine.
“We’re going to interview them and assess them for risk… if they have been in close contact with somebody who was symptomatic,” Bhattacharya told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
He urged people not to panic over the outbreak.
“This is not Covid,” Bhattacharya said. “We shouldn’t be panicking when the evidence doesn’t warrant it.”
Later on Sunday, US health officials confirmed that one of the 17 American passengers had tested positive for hantavirus but was not showing symptoms. Nebraska Medicine spokesperson Kayla Thomas said the passenger would be moved to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, while the remaining passengers would undergo monitoring at the National Quarantine Unit.
Bhattacharya said passengers would remain under observation for several weeks. He added that seven Americans who had earlier left the ship were already in the United States and had been monitored by health authorities.
The University of Nebraska Medical Center activated its specialised biocontainment facility ahead of the arrivals. The same facility was used earlier for Ebola and COVID-19 patients.
WHO says public risk is low, but countries tighten monitoring
Tedros said the outbreak does not pose a major risk to the general public.
“This is not another COVID. And the risk to the public is low. So they shouldn’t be scared, and they shouldn’t panic,” he said.
WHO epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove said countries receiving passengers should carry out daily health monitoring either at home or in specialised facilities.
“We are leaving this up to the countries themselves to actually develop their own policies,” she said. “But our recommendations are very clear.”
Several countries announced quarantine or observation protocols for returning passengers. British authorities said evacuees would undergo 72 hours of hospital quarantine followed by six weeks of self-isolation. French authorities said the five passengers evacuated to France would remain hospitalised “until further orders.”
Japan said one of its nationals arrived in Britain on a chartered evacuation flight and would remain under monitoring by British authorities for up to 45 days. Australia also sent an evacuation flight for its citizens and passengers from nearby countries.
Norway dispatched an ambulance aircraft with personnel trained to transport patients with high-risk infections.
What is hantavirus and how does it spread?
Health officials said hantavirus is mainly transmitted through contact with infected rodents or their saliva, urine and droppings.
People are usually infected after inhaling aerosolised virus particles in poorly ventilated spaces such as ships, barns, warehouses and storage facilities.
Authorities said the Andes strain linked to the outbreak may rarely spread between people. Symptoms usually appear between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Spanish authorities said some crew members and the body of a passenger who died on board would remain on the ship as it sails to Rotterdam in the Netherlands for disinfection. The voyage is expected to take around five days.
Separately, British Army medics parachuted into the remote South Atlantic territory of Tristan da Cunha after one resident who had earlier travelled on the MV Hondius was identified as a suspected hantavirus case.
