90-Second Read: Quarantine over for almost all Hantavirus ship passengers, crew

Almost all the passengers and crew of the cruise ship hit by a deadly Hantavirus outbreak who had to quarantine in the Netherlands are now allowed to return home, the WHO chief said Thursday. And on June 8, St Helena, where many passengers disembarked, announced the conclusion of the Hantavirus major incident declared on the remote British island, home to around 4,400 close-knit people. The Andes species behind the Hondius outbreak is the only strain of Hantavirus known to be able to jump from human-to-human.

There were 12 confirmed and one probable case stemming from the MV Hondius, including three deaths, in an outbreak which sparked an internatonal health alert. The Dutch-flagged ship set off April 1 from Ushuaia, Argentina, taking in remote islands in the South Atlantic Ocean before heading north to Cape Verde, then Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands, where remaining passengers were evacuated. The polar exploration ship docked on May 18 in Rotterdam harbour in the Netherlands, Europe's largest port, with the skeleton crew facing weeks of quarantine.

On May 30, the ship was cleared to put to sea again after cleaning and disinfection. All individuals who were identified as contacts and required to self-isolate have now successfully completed their mandatory 42-day isolation periods.