90-Second Read: Hantavirus-hit cruise ship docks in Rotterdam at voyage end

A cruise ship that sparked global alarm after a deadly outbreak of Hantavirus docked in Rotterdam harbour Monday, with the skeleton crew facing weeks of quarantine.Kiki Hirschfeldt, a spokeswoman for... 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. Late Sunday, the WHO said it was maintaining its assessment of the Hantavirus outbreak as "low risk". 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.

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. While additional cases may still occur among passengers and crew members exposed before containment measures were implemented, the risk of onward transmission is expected to be reduced following disembarkation and the implementation of control measures. Hantavirus spreads from the urine, faeces and saliva of infected rodents and is endemic in Argentina, where the voyage began. The most recent positive test came from Canada in a patient who was on the Hondius, officials said late Sunday.

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 World Health Organization has scrambled to reassure the world that the outbreak was not a repeat of the Covid pandemic, stressing that contagion was very rare. The MV Hondius's voyage began on April 1 in Ushuaia, Argentina, taking in remote islands in the South Atlantic Ocean before steaming north to Cape Verde. Those infected have the Andes virus -- the only strain of Hantavirus that can spread between people.

Also on board is the body of a German woman who died during the voyage. Kiki Hirschfeldt, a spokeswoman for the operator, said it was too early to say what impact the outbreak could have on the appetite for cruises. All others evacuated to the Netherlands from the ship have tested negative for the virus.