90-Second Read: Hantavirus-hit cruise ship arrives in Netherlands

The cruise ship hit by a deadly Hantavirus outbreak has docked at the Dutch port of Rotterdam for disinfection, wrapping up a troubled journey that put world health authorities on alert. The outbreak on the ship has reached at least 11 cases, nine of which have been confirmed. Crew members who are unable to return home will be quarantined in the Netherlands, the Dutch health ministry said last week. The Public Health Agency of Canada said one of the four Canadians in isolation after leaving the ship tested positive Sunday and it would share information on the case with the World Health Organization.

The outbreak was the first known to have occurred on a cruise ship. 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. The Dutch company that owns the cruise ship said it doesn't foresee any changes to its operations. The MV Hondius was carrying 25 crew members and two medical personnel as it reached Rotterdam on Monday morning, after all the passengers disembarked elsewhere.

Eighteen Americans are currently under observation at specialized healthcare facilities in the United States designed to treat people with dangerous infectious diseases. The World Health Organization has stressed that the outbreak wasn't a repeat of COVID and that the contagion was very rare. After everyone on board has disembarked, the ship will be decontaminated based on Dutch public health guidelines. Public health officials will inspect the vessel before it is allowed to sail again.

A short distance from where the ship docked, authorities had set up 25 white containers along the water in between a line of windmills. The MV Hondius has spent the past six days sailing from the Canary Islands, where the remaining passengers were escorted off the vessel by personnel in full-body protective gear and boarded flights to more than 20 countries to enter quarantine. The ship is in need, the ship is at sea, crew members are sick, probably affected.