{"id":678702,"date":"2026-05-18T13:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678702\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T13:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:50:12","slug":"hantavirus-stricken-cruise-ship-docks-in-the-netherlands-for-disinfection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/678702\/","title":{"rendered":"Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship docks in the Netherlands for disinfection"},"content":{"rendered":"

The cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has docked at the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands for disinfection, wrapping up a troubled journey that put international health authorities on alert.<\/p>\n

The MV Hondius was carrying 25 crew members and two medical personnel as it reached Rotterdam Monday morning, local time.<\/p>\n

Occupants were wearing masks on the deck as the ship was escorted through the port by a tug boat and a Dutch police boat, an Associated Press journalist witnessed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The crew will now go into quarantine, with those who cannot be immediately repatriated spending their time in the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

\"people<\/p>\n

Crew aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship as it arrives at the Port of Rotterdam. (\u00a0AP: Patrick Post)<\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily so far the crew has suffered no symptoms,\u201d Yvonne van Duijnhoven, the Director of Public Health in Rotterdam told The Associated Press.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have very strict protocols to prevent virus going from the ship towards the outside world,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some two dozen passengers and crew are already in quarantine in the Netherlands after arriving in the country on a series of flights over the previous two weeks.<\/p>\n

\"people<\/p>\n

People in personal protective suits on board the cruise ship MV Hondius in the Port of Rotterdam. (Reuters: Yves Herman)<\/p>\n

Decontamination begins<\/p>\n

After everyone on board has disembarked, the ship will be decontaminated based on Dutch public health guidelines, a process that will take about three days, according to van Duijnhoven.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonal protective measures are being taken to ensure that the cleaners do not need to quarantine after the cleaning,\u201d the health ministry said in a letter to the Dutch parliament last week.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

A person wearing protective equipment throws bedding next to the cruise ship MV Hondius, where authorities are preparing quarantine arrangements. (Reuters: Yves Herman)<\/p>\n

Public health officials will inspect the vessel before it is allowed to sail again. The hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius is the first known case on a cruise ship.<\/p>\n

The Dutch company that owns the cruise ship said it doesn\u2019t foresee any changes to its operations, and has an Arctic cruise setting sail from Keflavik, Iceland, on May 29.<\/p>\n

\"Hantavirus<\/p>\n

The MV Hondius cruise ship, centre, arrives at the Port of Rotterdam. (\u00a0AP: Patrick Post)<\/p>\n

Passengers return to more than 20 countries<\/p>\n

The MV Hondius has spent the past six days sailing from the Canary Islands, where the remaining passengers were escorted off the vessel by personnel in full-body protective gear and boarded flights to more than 20 countries to enter quarantine.<\/p>\n

What we know about the MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak<\/a><\/p>\n

A few short weeks ago, many Australians had never heard the word hantavirus. But a deadly outbreak on the MV Hondius has catapulted the infection into the spotlight.<\/p>\n

During the outbreak, three passengers who had been aboard the ship died, including a Dutch couple who health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.<\/p>\n

The outbreak on the ship has reached at least 11 cases, nine of which have been confirmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Four Australians, one permanent resident, and one New Zealander are in qurantine in Perth after disembarking<\/a> the MV Hondius.<\/p>\n

They will spend three weeks at the Bullsbrook Centre for National Resilience after testing negative for hantavirus and will undergo further health screening.<\/p>\n

AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has docked at the port of Rotterdam in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,314460,327137,327136,137,314459],"class_list":["post-678702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-hantavirus-cruise-ship","tag-hantavirus-ship-arrives","tag-hantavirus-ship-rotterdam","tag-health","tag-mv-hondius"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=678702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}