90-Second Read: Spain readies for evacuations as a Hantavirus-hit cruise ship heads for the Canary Islands

Spanish authorities are preparing to receive over 140 passengers and crew from a Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship headed for the Canary Islands. Despite a cruise ship outbreak of a rare rodent-borne illness, global health officials say the risk to the general public remains low because Hantavirus germs do not easily spread between people. Passengers on the the Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, watch epidemiologists board the boat in Praia, during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. On Friday, the WHO said a flight attendant on a plane briefly boarded by an infected cruise passenger has tested negative for Hantavirus.

Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked the ship before the deadly outbreak was detected. It wasn't until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed Hantavirus in a ship passenger, the WHO said. Spanish health officials said Friday a woman in the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante has symptoms consistent with a Hantavirus infection and is being tested. An isolated staging area was being built at Tenerife's Granadilla Port ahead of the arrival of the more than 140 passengers and crew members on board the ship.

The vessel is expected to arrive Sunday at the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, and passengers will be taken to a "completely isolated, cordoned-off area," said the head of Spain's emergency services, Virginia Barcones. The World Health Organization considers the risk to the wider public from the outbreak as low. Both passengers told AP they're worried about how they'll be treated in Spain and once home. The Dutch public health service is undertaking contact tracing on passengers who had contact with the ill woman before she left the plane.

We've heard that this is a millionaires' cruise, and it's the complete opposite of reality. The cruise passenger briefly aboard that flight, a Dutch woman whose husband died on the ship, was too ill to stay on the international flight to Europe and was taken off the plane in Johannesburg, where she died. Passengers will be transported in isolated and guarded vehicles, officials said, adding that the parts of the airport they travel through will be cordoned off.