Two British passengers medically evacuated from the hantavirus-affected cruise ship MV Hondius are reported to be improving, global health officials said.
A 69-year-old British man was flown to South Africa on 27 April and is being treated at a private facility in Sandton, Johannesburg. Another Briton, 56-year-old expedition guide Martin Anstee, was taken off the ship and flown to the Netherlands for specialist care. WHO experts said the patient in South Africa was doing better and that two patients being treated in the Netherlands were stable.
The outbreak has so far produced eight suspected cases, five of which have been confirmed by laboratory tests as hantavirus. The cluster has been linked to travel on a birdwatching trip to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay taken by two passengers before boarding the cruise, and it is associated with three deaths.
Spanish authorities have allowed the ship to anchor in the Canary Islands. Oceanwide Expeditions, the tour operator, said the MV Hondius left Cape Verde and is expected to arrive at Granadilla, Tenerife, in the early hours of Sunday. WHO and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control specialists, together with two doctors, are on board conducting medical assessments and assisting the crew and passengers.
WHO officials said morale on board has improved since the ship began its journey to Tenerife. Dr Maria Van Kerkhove said she was “very happy to say the patient in South Africa is doing better, and the two patients in the Netherlands we hear are stable.” Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned there could still be more cases because the Andes virus—the hantavirus variant linked to this outbreak—has an incubation period that can extend up to six weeks.
Although WHO assesses the public health risk as low, authorities are keeping close watch. Dr Abdirahman Mahamud, who leads alert and response coordination at WHO, said the organisation is not expecting a widespread epidemic and pointed to a similar Argentina outbreak in 2018–19 that resulted in 34 cases.
Seven British nationals were among 30 passengers from 12 countries who disembarked when the ship called at the remote island of Saint Helena; one Dutch woman who became ill while travelling onward later died. A woman in Amsterdam—reported to be a flight attendant who had contact with the deceased—has come forward with possible symptoms. Oceanwide said it has contacted guests who left the ship.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has been working to trace contacts and confirm it has been in touch with Britons who disembarked. Two Britons who had already returned to the UK are isolating at home and remain asymptomatic; contact tracing is being carried out for people who may have sat near them on flights home. Nineteen British passengers and four British crew were listed aboard the MV Hondius.
UKHSA officials have recommended that British passengers associated with the cruise self-isolate in the UK for 45 days. Prof Robin May, UKHSA chief scientific officer, said the most extreme incubation estimates might be up to eight weeks, but six weeks (about 45 days) is the likely isolation period. The Foreign Office is arranging a charter to repatriate remaining asymptomatic British passengers once the ship docks in Tenerife.
Three people were transferred to the Netherlands for treatment, including Anstee. From hospital he said he was “doing OK,” that he was not feeling very unwell and that he remained in isolation while undergoing further tests. Health authorities continue monitoring passengers and contacts closely as investigations and testing proceed.