The three passengers of the cruise ship MV Hondius, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, suspected of suffering from hantavirus have finally been evacuated from the ship on Wednesday morning and are being flown from Cape Verde to the Netherlands, where the tourist ship is from. After these transfers, the tourist vessel will depart for Tenerife, where it will arrive in three or four days.
According to the company's statement, two of the patients present acute symptoms and will have to be transferred to medical and detection centers upon their arrival in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, the third affected person is "closely related" to the passenger who is the third deceased passenger, the one who died on May 2nd. Of the three passengers with hantavirus symptoms, one is the cruise doctor, who is in critical condition.
This operation has been coordinated by the World Health Organization, the ship operator, the authorities of Cape Verde, the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands.
This decision is made after days of uncertainty surrounding the passengers' fate and after confirming that they will not disembark in Cape Verde. The Government of Spain has reported that it has been in "constant" contact with the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as with the Government of the Canary Islands to coordinate the transfer of the rest of the passengers to the Canary archipelago.
The situation inside the MV Hondius
Oceanwide has reported that two infectious disease specialist doctors have traveled from the Netherlands to embark on the MV Hondius and that they will remain on board after its departure from Cape Verde. Additionally, an extra medical professional has joined the ship.
The Ministry of Health has reported that Cape Verde cannot receive the 148 passengers and one corpse, and that the closest place with the capacity to do so is the Spanish archipelago. However, the Canarian president, Fernando Clavijo, has urged the Executive to reconsider its decision.
The Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has indicated that the organization will monitor the health of passengers and crew and has assured that the overall public health risk "remains low".
On board the vessel are currently 148 people and the body of the third deceased from this outbreak. In total, there are people of 23 nationalities. Of these, fourteen are Spanish among passengers and crew. The most represented nationalities are Great Britain (with 23) and the United States (17), followed by Spain.
Chronology: three dead, one admitted to the ICU, and three infected
The ship MV Hondius set sail from Argentina on March 20, on a route that also included continental Antarctica, the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Islands, Nightingale Island, and Tristan Island.
According to the chronology of the medical situation on board the MV Hondius disseminated by the company, the first death on board occurred on April 11, three weeks ago. The body of a Dutch passenger was disembarked thirteen days later, on April 24, in Santa Elena, Argentina. The deceased's wife accompanied his body so that it could be repatriated. However, she also fell ill and ended up dying on April 27. The WHO confirmed that the woman suffered from a variant of hantavirus.
On April 27, the third passenger, this time British, who was evacuated to South Africa, fell ill, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit in critical condition. This patient was diagnosed with a hantavirus variant. So far the only two confirmed cases of the disease.
On May 2nd, a third passenger, of German nationality, passed away. Oceanwide has reported that the vessel is at level 3, the highest response level, and that isolation measures, hygiene protocols, and medical monitoring are being carried out on board.
