90-Second Read: Hantavirus: what happens to cruise ship passengers now and will they quarantine?
Editorial voice
Amara Mensah
Published
Published May 11, 2026

Up to 150 people have started flying home aboard military and government planes from Spain's Canary Islands, and the World Health Organization has recommended, but not mandated, a 42-day quarantine once they have landed. Passengers wore blue medical suits and breathing masks as they disembarked MV Hondius on to smaller boats, according to observers. In Australia, passengers will be taken by ambulance to a hospital to undergo assessment and establish suitable quarantine arrangements. The WHO recommends a 42-day quarantine and "active follow-up", including daily checks for symptoms such as fever. The 42-day quarantine can be carried out at a staffed facility or in isolation at home.
Greece's health ministry said a male evacuee will spend 45 days in mandatory hospital quarantine in Athens. After that, they will be given the choice of staying in Nebraska or going home, where their conditions would be monitored by state and local health agencies. The Philippines government has confirmed 38 Filipino seafarers working on the ship will quarantine in Rotterdam before repatriation home. Evacuees then changed into new protective equipment and pictures showed them on the tarmac being sprayed down by medical officers before boarding repatriation charter flights. France said all of its evacuees, one who is now symptomatic, "have immediately been placed in strict isolation until further notice".
Here's what we know about how different countries are managing quarantine. Some health experts are concerned people may not strictly isolate for six weeks. At a quarantine facility, their risk levels for spreading the virus will be assessed. But officials have so far stressed the risk for global public health is low. Those boats docked at a small industrial port in Tenerife.
India confirmed that two of its nationals on board the ship, working as crew, had been evacuated to the Netherlands where they will be quarantined. Three passengers, a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman, have died, and a small number have fallen sick with the disease. The WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, says his organisation does not 'force' its guidance. The group will initially stay for 72 hours, and arrangements for further isolation assessed. The US health department confirmed on Sunday that one evacuee has mild symptoms and another has tested mildly PCR positive for the Andes strain of the virus.
Source reference
Original reporting
Based on reporting from The Guardian. Read the original source for full details.
Source published May 10, 11:53 PM EDT. Hantavirus Now reviewed reporting from The Guardian and summarized the key points below.
Read original article