90-Second Read: Passengers from Hantavirus-hit cruise ship fly to Madrid as CDC says outbreak threat is low

The first plane carrying passengers from the Hantavirus-hit cruise ship has departed Spain's Canary Islands for the country's capital Madrid, where the passengers will be taken to a military hospital. A Spanish government plane takes off with passengers from the Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the airport in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. Passengers watch as others are disembarked from the Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Sunday, May 10, 2026. As Hantavirus dominates the headlines, sparking fears of another debilitating pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stressed that the risk of sweeping contagion is small.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday said the agency had considerable experience with the Andes strain of the Hantavirus, offering assurance to the American public that there was low risk of a widespread outbreak. The Dutch couple is thought to have come into contact with Hantavirus before boarding the ship, during a birdwatching excursion at an Argentine landfill site. Officials said that the seven passengers who are back stateside have been monitored while at their homes and have at no point exhibited any symptoms related to the virus. Early on Sunday morning, the cruise ship MV Hondius arrived in Tenerife, the largest island in the Spanish archipelago that lies off the coast of West Africa.

Members of the press report from an expected reception point for passengers from the MV Hondius at the Granadilla Port on May 09, 2026 in Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands, Spain. Authorities say that none of the more than 140 people on the ship have shown symptoms of the virus. Hantavirus is typically contracted when humans come into contact with rodent urine, saliva or feces. The Andes strain of the virus, however, which is the one currently being monitored aboard the cruise ship, can, in rare instances, transmit person to person.

The passengers have been told to leave behind their luggage, and are allowed to take only a small bag containing essential items. The remarks from CDC officials come as headlines about the virus, which broke out aboard a cruise ship last month and has so far led to three deaths, have sparked fears of a COVID-like pandemic. Seven have already returned to the United States, but 17 more remain onboard.