MV Hondius Hantavirus Outbreak Tracker

Cases

Confirmed & Suspected

🇳🇱 Netherlands — 3 cases

2 Dead1 Confirmed

Index cases: married couple (70M, 69F) — four-month birdwatching trip across Chile, Uruguay, Argentina before boarding. Husband died on board Apr 11; wife died in Johannesburg Apr 26. Both confirmed ANDV. Third: 41-year-old crew member evacuated to Leiden UMC May 6.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom — 2 cases

1 ICU1 Suspected

Passenger medevaced to Johannesburg ICU — critical but stable, improving. Second suspected case on Tristan da Cunha, population ~220. UK mandating 45-day isolation for all returning passengers.

🇨🇭 Switzerland — 1 case

Confirmed

Diagnosed in Zurich after disembarking and flying home. Confirmed May 6.

🚢 Ship's Doctor — 1 case

Confirmed

Infected treating patients — confirms human-to-human transmission in healthcare. Evacuated to Netherlands May 6. A passenger doctor took over May 1.

❓ Unknown Nationality — 1 case

Dead

Third death on board. Not yet confirmed as ANDV. Associated person evacuated.

🇪🇸 Spain, flight contact — 1 case

Suspected

32-year-old in Alicante. Not a ship passenger — seated two rows from the Dutch woman on the St Helena → Johannesburg flight. If confirmed: the first transmission off the ship.

Tracking

Countries Monitoring

🇺🇸 United States — 17 on board + 9 stateside

0 Positive

None tested positive. CDC: "We are not quarantining anybody." May self-monitor at home for 42 days. Won't test asymptomatic people. Monitoring in 7 states. Emergency Ops Level 3.

🇿🇦 South Africa — 62 contacts

Tracing

62 contacts from medevac patients. 42 traced, tested negative. 20 still being located — some may have left the country. NICD leading genomic investigation.

🇸🇬 Singapore · 🇳🇱 KLM crew

Negative

Two Singaporean passengers and one KLM flight attendant all tested negative.

🇫🇷 France · 🇨🇦 Canada

Tracing

France: 8 flight contacts, one symptomatic. Canada: 3 self-isolating, 4 nationals still aboard.

🇩🇪 Germany · 🇵🇭 Philippines · 🇦🇷 Argentina

Monitoring

Germany: repatriation flight from Tenerife. Philippines: 38 crew, none ill. Argentina: 101 domestic cases since June 2025 — double the previous year.

Response

Quarantine by Country

🇪🇸Spain — Mandatory. Gómez Ulla military hospital, Madrid. PCR on arrival + day 7.

🇺🇸US — Voluntary. UNMC Nebraska for eval. May go home, self-monitor 42 days.

🇬🇧UK — Mandatory. 45-day isolation with testing.

🇳🇱Netherlands — Home quarantine per RIVM/ECDC.

🇪🇺EU — 6 flights, 2 Civil Protection aircraft. Varying policies.

🌍Non-EU — 4 flights. Can't stay in Canaries even if symptomatic.

Chronology

Timeline

1 AprDeparts Ushuaia — 175 aboard, berths €14k–€22k

6 AprDutch man, 70, develops symptoms

11 AprFirst death — attributed to natural causes

13–15 AprTristan da Cunha — passengers go ashore

24 AprSt Helena — 30 leave, no tracing. Body + widow airlifted to Joburg

26 AprDutch woman dies in Johannesburg

1 MayShip's doctor ill; passenger doctor volunteers

2 MayWHO notified

3–5 MayAnchored off Cape Verde — denied disembarkation

6 MayANDV confirmed. 3 evacuated. Ship departs for Tenerife. Canary Islands refuses; WHO invokes obligation

7 MayWHO: 8 cases, 3 deaths. KLM attendant negative

8 May6th confirmed. Alicante + Tristan da Cunha suspected. CDC ops activated

9 MayTedros arrives Tenerife. Quarantine approved. Local protests

10 MayShip arrives Granadilla ~05:30. Evacuation underway. 10 flights. Canary Islands wants ship gone today

Understand the virus →

How hantavirus kills, how it spreads, why Andes virus is different, and what the Epuyén superspreader event revealed.

Read the visual explainer →

About

Independent tracker, not affiliated with any government or health agency. Data from WHO, CDC, ECDC, NICD, RIVM, and reporting by CNN, ABC, BBC, Al Jazeera, NBC, Reuters, AP.

The "prolonged close contact" framing repeated by authorities may understate transmission risk during the peak infectious window. The Epuyén data shows brief indoor proximity around fever onset is enough. With a 4–42 day incubation period, the 30 people who left St Helena on April 24 without tracing could develop symptoms through early June.

The Hondius Outbreak