Hantavirus-hit cruise ship docks in Rotterdam
THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS—A cruise ship that sparked global alarm after a deadly outbreak of hantavirus docked in Rotterdam on Monday, with its remaining skeleton crew facing weeks of quarantine.
Twenty-five crew and two medical staff remain on board, some of whom could be seen wearing blue hard hats and white face masks as the ship made its final approach into port for disembarkation and disinfection.
The ship, operated by Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions, made headlines after three passengers died from hantavirus—a rare virus for which no vaccines nor specific treatments exist.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has scrambled to reassure the world that the outbreak was not a repeat of the COVID-19 pandemic, stressing that contagion was very rare.
“There is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on May 12.
However, the virus has an incubation period of several weeks, meaning more cases from the ship’s occupants could emerge in the future, Tedros warned.
Hantavirus has been confirmed in six patients, with one other probable case, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally from official sources.
Another patient in Canada has provisionally tested positive but is not exhibiting symptoms and the test remains to be confirmed.
After arriving in the Canary Islands on May 10, more than 120 passengers and crew were evacuated from the ship, either to their home countries or to the Netherlands, which has a special responsibility as the ship is Dutch-flagged.
A 65-year-old French woman became symptomatic on the repatriation flight and ended up in critical condition in a Paris hospital with a confirmed case of hantavirus.
Two people, one Dutch and one British, were also urgently evacuated from the ship to the Netherlands and rushed to hospital. Both are in stable condition and the Briton is well enough to return home for self-isolation, according to Dutch officials.
All others evacuated to the Netherlands from the ship have tested negative for the virus.
Some are in quarantine in the Netherlands, others have already flown home.
Everyone still on board is asymptomatic, according to Oceanwide Expeditions, and being closely monitored by the two medics on board.
Late on Sunday, the WHO said it was maintaining its assessment of the hantavirus outbreak as “low risk.”
The people disembarking on Monday comprise 17 from the Philippines, four from the Netherlands (two crew and the two medical staff), four from Ukraine, one from Russia and one from Poland.
