After weeks in isolation, the remaining passengers aboard the MV Hondius were finally evacuated to their home countries on Monday, May 11, opening a new chapter in the management of this unprecedented hantavirus outbreak. Three people have died, seven patients have been classified as confirmed cases and one as a probable case. But how significant is the risk posed by the dispersal of these suspected cases across the world? Following the lead of the World Health Organization (WHO), experts emphasize that the global epidemic risk remains low but urge caution to break any chains of transmission.
While 27 crew members must still remain on board to sail the ship back to the Netherlands, 121 people of 19 different nationalities were evacuated by boat and then by plane in less than 48 hours, on Sunday and Monday. This was an “unprecedented” rescue operation, according to Spanish authorities, who coordinated the intervention under intense international scrutiny. Since Sunday, two new passengers – an American and a French woman – have tested positive for hantavirus; two further indications that the matter is not over, barely a month after the first virus-related death aboard the MV Hondius, on April 11.
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