MV Hondius outbreak coverage

ECDC raises official count to 11 — 9 lab-confirmed, 2 probable, 3 deaths

ECDC's 12 May surveillance update raises the official Andes hantavirus count to 11 total: 9 lab-confirmed and 2 probable cases, with 3 deaths (CFR 27%). The upgrade from 9 to 11 reflects confirmations of the France Case 1 (Bichat hospital, Paris) and Spain Case 2 (Madrid). All MV Hondius passengers have been repatriated; the 42-day monitoring period runs through late June. Risk to the EU/EEA general population remains very low.

WHO Director-General: 'There is no sign we're seeing the start of a larger outbreak'

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed that the MV Hondius response operation has been successful and that 'there is no sign that we're seeing the start of a larger outbreak.' All 147 passengers have been repatriated across 8+ countries under strict monitoring protocols. MV Hondius is now sailing to Rotterdam for decontamination. WHO continues to coordinate diagnostic capacity across affected countries.

16 Americans now at Nebraska Biocontainment facility; Atlanta patient PCR result pending

Latest US update: 16 Americans are now at the University of Nebraska Medical Center — 1 confirmed case in the biocontainment unit and 15 undergoing precautionary 42-day monitoring. Two Americans remain at Emory University Hospital Atlanta: one with mild symptoms has a PCR result pending, the other is monitoring without symptoms. CDC maintains US public risk is 'extremely low.' No new US cases confirmed as of this report.

Two more cruise ship passengers test positive: France confirms a woman, Spain confirms a man

France confirmed a second hantavirus case: a woman evacuated from MV Hondius tested PCR-positive, bringing France's total to 2 confirmed cases. A Spanish male MV Hondius passenger in isolation at a Madrid hospital also tested PCR-positive on arrival screening (asymptomatic, final confirmation on 12 May), bringing Spain's total to 2 cases. The two new cases raise HantaCount's headline total to 16 (CFR 19%). All cases are being monitored under national quarantine protocols.

12 Radboud UMC Nijmegen staff in 6-week preventive quarantine after ANDV protocol breach

Twelve employees at Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen entered 6-week preventive quarantine after possible Andes virus exposure during the treatment of an MV Hondius passenger. Two protocol breaches were identified: blood samples were processed under standard rather than ANDV-strict procedures, and the patient's urine was not disposed of according to the latest international guidelines. Radboud UMC stated that the actual probability of infection is very small. This is the first healthcare-worker quarantine event of the Hondius outbreak.

Four Canadians from MV Hondius land in British Columbia under 42-day quarantine; no confirmed cases

Four Canadian nationals who were aboard MV Hondius during the Andes hantavirus outbreak disembarked in Tenerife on 10 May and arrived in British Columbia on 11 May. All four are under Canada's mandatory 42-day home quarantine protocol. A total of 10 Canadians are connected to the outbreak across both passengers and close contacts. Canada's Chief Public Health Officer stated that the risk of hantavirus transmission within Canada 'is not expected' and assessed the overall risk to Canadians as very low. No confirmed or probable cases have been reported in Canada.

94 passengers from 19 nationalities disembarked from MV Hondius on first day

Of the 147 passengers remaining onboard MV Hondius at Tenerife arrival, 94 disembarked on the first day of the operation (10 May), representing 19 different nationalities. Beyond the 13 countries with confirmed or suspected cases, the passenger roster includes nationals from Australia, Belgium, Greece, Guatemala, India, Japan, Montenegro, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Ukraine — none of whom have confirmed cases but all of whom are now under precautionary 42-day contact monitoring in their home countries.

French MV Hondius passenger PCR-confirmed positive for Andes hantavirus; condition deteriorating

One of the five French nationals repatriated from MV Hondius has tested PCR-positive for Andes hantavirus at Hôpital Bichat-Claude-Bernard in Paris; the patient's condition deteriorated overnight following onset of symptoms during the repatriation flight from Tenerife. French Health Minister Stéphanie Rist emphasised: "What is key is to act at the start and break the virus transmission chains." The French case was already included in HantaCount's headline count as a suspected case; this update upgrades the classification to confirmed. ECDC's daily surveillance update (as of 14:00 May 11) now reports 7 laboratory-confirmed + 2 probable = 9 WHO-tracked cases.