Quarantine cabins set up in Rotterdam for crew of Hondius amid hantavirus outbreak

At the Port of Rotterdam, 23 temporary cabins are being set up to receive the international crew of the cruise ship Hondius. It has not yet been decided whether they will stay there for the full mandatory six-week quarantine, but authorities are considering that scenario. The Rotterdam-Rijnmond GGD will carry out tests on the crew and medical personnel upon arrival.

The vessel is en route to Rotterdam harbour and is expected to arrive on Monday morning. A total of 27 people remain on board, including 25 crew members and two employees of the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).

Four of them are Dutch citizens who will complete quarantine at home. The other 23 are foreign crew members from the Philippines (17), Ukraine (4), Russia (1), and Poland (1).

According to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, no additional suspected hantavirus cases have been detected on board the vessel so far, following communication with the ship’s captain on Friday.

The international response was launched following an outbreak of Andes hantavirus on the vessel. So far, the outbreak has led to 11 confirmed infections and 3 fatalities among the crew.

Prior to departure for Rotterdam, around 150 passengers representing 23 nationalities were taken off the vessel in Tenerife (Canary Islands) and flown back to their respective home countries.

A previous group of evacuees who had already flown to the Netherlands has now been tested by the RIVM, and all results came back negative for hantavirus.