American cruise passenger tests positive for hantavirus. Live updates
Seventeen Americans who were aboard the cruise ship at the center of the deadly hantavirus outbreak are expected to return to the United States early Monday, where they will first stop at an Air Force base in Nebraska before being transported to the National Quarantine Center.
The U.S. passengers disembarked from the MV Hondius on May 10 after the ship was anchored near Tenerife, in Spain's Canary Islands. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a team of epidemiologists and medical professionals was sent to Spain to conduct exposure risk assessments for each U.S. passenger and provide recommendations for the level of monitoring required.
The plane carrying the U.S. passengers departed from Spain on Sunday evening local time, and the CDC said they will be flown to the Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, before being transported to the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska.
There, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, said the passengers will be checked for symptoms and given the option to quarantine at home with support and monitoring from local health officials.
The first day of evacuations ended on Sunday with a total of 94 passengers of 19 nationalities evacuated from the ship, Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said at a news conference. Passengers were taken from the ship to shore in small boats and transported to Tenerife airport in military buses, without coming into contact with the public, according to Reuters.
"The operation has gone well and according to the plan," García said at a news conference Sunday. The final evacuation flights are scheduled to depart on Monday.
MV Hondius refuels in Tenerife
Natalie Neysa Alund
The MV Hondius at the center of the hantavirus outbreak refueled on Monday morning in Tenerife, ahead of the cruise ship's last passenger evacuations, Reuters reported.
The vessel remained docked at the industrial port of Granadilla in the Spanish island off West Africa as of about 12:30 p.m. local time.
A ship’s voyage from the Canary Islands to the U.S. East Coast is roughly 3,000 nautical miles, depending on the specific U.S. destination.
According to Oceanwide Expeditions, the MV Hondius travels at an average speed of 15 knots. That means it could take about eight days to reach the U.S., depending on factors including the ship's destination and speed, as well as weather and the ocean's current.
MV Hondius captain talks 'challenging' weeks at sea
Melina Khan
Jan Dobrogowski, the captain of the MV Hondius, said the past few weeks have been "extremely challenging" in a new video message.
"I wish nothing more to everybody, guests and crew alike, to be able to go home safely and in good health," Dobrogowski said in the video, which was shared by Oceanwide Expeditions on May 11.
He thanked the crew members and guests onboard, who he said displayed "unity and a quiet strength" during the outbreak.
"What touched me the most, what moved me the most was your patience, your discipline and also kindness – kindness that you showed to each other throughout," Dobrogowski said, adding that his thoughts are with the three passengers who died.
She narrowly survived hantavirus 30 years ago. Here’s what it was like.
Charles Trepany
Shaina Montiel says her mother stills cries thinking about her harrowing experience with hantavirus at age 5, which, according to the CDC, can have a fatality rate up to 38%, depending on the type of syndrome caused by it. At the time of her infection, Montiel says one of her doctors remarked that she was the youngest patient they'd seen yet survive the virus.
Now 38, Montiel says it's been surreal watching the little-known virus that almost took her life three decades ago make international headlines over the past week, as a deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship has stoked fear around the world. By sharing her own story, Montiel hopes she can help others both understand the gravity of a hantavirus infection, while keeping anxiety about far-reaching spread in perspective.
"When I caught it, nobody else in my family caught it," Montiel says. "There's nobody else in my neighborhood that caught it. So I think I was just very unlucky."
Last passengers, crew to evacuate tonight
Natalie Neysa Alund
Spain's government announced the evacuation of the last passengers and crew of the MV Hondius was set to take place on Monday.
"Refueling completed. Provisioning in process," the country's interior minister said in a post on X. "After that, everything ready for the evacuation of the last passengers and crew this afternoon."
As of early May 11, the cruise ship remained docked at the industrial port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands.
The ship was slated to depart the port at 7 p.m. local time.
UN head says agency backs Spain's government, WHO
Natalie Neysa Alund
The United Nation's Secretary General on Monday said the agency backs the Spanish government as it oversees the ongoing hantavirus outbreak in "close coordination" with the World Health Organization.
"I want to express my support for the government of Spain & others as they manage the #hantavirus in close coordination with our @WHO colleagues," António Guterres wrote in post on X. "While the current public health risk from the virus remains low, it’s important that international health efforts ensure the safety of all, including passengers & crew of the MV Hondius."
American cruise ship passenger tests positive for hantavirus
Nicole Fallert
Two people have tested positive for hantavirus after being evacuated from a luxury cruise ship hit by a deadly outbreak, health authorities said, as Spain prepared on Monday to evacuate and repatriate the last passengers remaining on the vessel.
A French and a U.S. national are among the positive cases, according to the BBC and Reuters.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Sunday that one of the 17 Americans being repatriated had tested mildly positive for the Andes strain of the virus, while a second person had shown mild symptoms.
The last 24 passengers still on board the MV Hondius are set to be evacuated on Monday afternoon from the cruise ship, now anchored near Spain's Atlantic island of Tenerife, according to Spanish authorities coordinating the evacuations.
Contributing: Reuters
How many cases have been linked to the hantavirus-hit cruise?
Thao Nguyen
On Sunday, 94 cruise passengers boarded repatriation flights from Spain to eight or more home countries, according to Spanish health officials.
Passengers and crew members were screened earlier and found to be asymptomatic, but one of the five French passengers showed symptoms during the repatriation flight, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on X.
Eight others have fallen ill in cases linked to the cruise, with six confirmed hantavirus cases and three deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
The virus was first detected by health officials in Johannesburg, South Africa on May 2 after a British man became sick and was taken into intensive care, 21 days after another passenger had died. The man's health has since improved, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing a WHO official.
Four remain hospitalized in South Africa, the Netherlands and Switzerland. On the remote island of Tristan da Cunha, a British overseas territory, a suspected case is being treated by a team of medical specialists who were parachuted in by the United Kingdom military.
Contributing: Reuters
Where will US cruise ship passengers go?
Daniel de Visé
The 17 U.S. citizens who were aboard the MV Hondius disembarked from the ship and departed Spain on Sunday, according to officials. They will be taken to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, where some are expected to be transported to the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska.
Upon arrival at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the passengers will be checked for symptoms and interviewed by personnel from the CDC to determine the risk that they were exposed to hantavirus, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.
If the passengers have no symptoms and no contact with anyone symptomatic, they will be deemed low risk. In that case, Bhattacharya said, they will have the option to return home, rather than stay at the national quarantine center.
CDC officials will extend "an offer to stay in Nebraska if they’d like," Bhattacharya said. But they will be allowed to return home, he added, if they can get there "without exposing other people on the way."
Once home, Bhattacharya said, the passengers can report to state and local public health agencies. Any Americans who develop symptoms or choose to be quarantined will stay at the Training, Simulation and Quarantine Center, the only federally funded National Quarantine Unit in the United States, according to its website.
Final evacuation flights to depart Spain on Monday
Thao Nguyen
The final two flights to evacuate passengers from the cruise ship will depart Spain on Monday afternoon, according to Spanish Health Minister Mónica García.
One flight to Australia will carry six passengers while another from the Netherlands will take 18 passengers, García said at the news conference Sunday. Both flights will also transport passengers from other countries which did not send their own repatriation flights, officials have said.
Passengers will be tested upon arrival, and then will be taken to either local hospitals or quarantine facilities or transported home for isolation.
Contributing: Reuters