{"id":653765,"date":"2026-05-07T13:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/653765\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T13:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:13:13","slug":"canadian-officials-to-meet-cruise-ship-with-hantavirus-outbreak-when-it-docks-at-spanish-port","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/653765\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian officials to meet cruise ship with hantavirus outbreak when it docks at Spanish port"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Government officials will be on hand in Spain\u2019s Canary Islands to meet Canadians when they disembark a cruise ship that is at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n<p>Three passengers suspected to be infected <a href=\"https:\/\/toronto.citynews.ca\/2026\/05\/06\/3-patients-evacuated-from-cruise-ship-with-hantavirus-outbreak-new-case-confirmed-in-switzerland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">were flown to the Netherlands on Wednesday<\/a> from the MV Hondius, as around 150 passengers -including four Canadians \u2013 still aboard the ship continue to isolate in their cabins. Officials say those on board are showing no signs of symptoms.<\/p>\n<p>The journey to the Canary Islands is expected to take three or four days, Spain\u2019s health ministry said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt this stage, there are no known cases of Canadians infected on board,\u201d read a joint statement from Foreign Affairs Minister Anand and Minister of Health Marjorie Michel on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Public Health Agency of Canada is working closely with provinces and territories to assess any potential risk and is connecting with Canadians on board to provide guidance on isolation or additional public health measures.\u201d<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Government of Canada is responding to the Andes Hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius. I have directed Global Affairs Consular officials to be at the port ready to meet Canadians when they disembark. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5a17hGFuNQ\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/5a17hGFuNQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Anita Anand (@AnitaAnandMP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnitaAnandMP\/status\/2052184376109142132?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">May 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Three people have died, and one body remains on the ship. There have been eight cases, five of them confirmed by laboratory testing, the WHO says.<\/p>\n<p>The World Health Organization says the outbreak\u2019s global risk is low, with the organization\u2019s top epidemic expert telling The Associated Press, \u201cThis is not the next COVID.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hantavirus is a rare, rodent-borne illness that usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings. The Argentine government\u2019s leading hypothesis is that a Dutch couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching tour at a garbage dump before boarding the cruise, according to two officials.<\/p>\n<p>Files from The Associated Press were used in this report<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/9e94871d0cc31f099ed941ce139a9d8b30a4ddf29f0a587f777f1a22cb6fbe26-1024x684.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" ratio=\"16x9\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tThe MV Hondius cruise ship is anchored at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo\/Misper Apawu)  Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved <\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Government officials will be on hand in Spain\u2019s Canary Islands to meet Canadians when they disembark a cruise&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-653765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}