Two planes carrying a total of 28 people evacuated from the expedition vessel MV Hondius touched down in the Netherlands shortly after midnight on Tuesday, Dutch authorities said. The flights included eight Dutch nationals; other passengers of various nationalities are due to continue onward from the Netherlands to return to their home countries.
The developments come as Radboudumc hospital in Nijmegen confirmed it had put 12 staff members into preventive quarantine following the admission of a Hondius passenger who tested positive for hantavirus on May 7. Hospital officials said the isolation followed the handling of blood and urine without applying updated, stricter protocols, and that the quarantine will last six weeks. Radboudumc emphasized that the risk of infection is very low and that patient care is continuing without interruption.
"We will carefully investigate the course of events to learn from this so that it can be prevented in the future," said Bertine Lahuis, the chair of the hospital’s executive board.
Shipowner Oceanwide Expeditions said the Hondius set sail for the Netherlands late on Monday evening with 25 crew members aboard plus a doctor and a nurse. The company added that all passengers have disembarked the vessel and that the ship itself is expected to arrive in the Netherlands by May 17.
At least three fatalities have been reported since the outbreak began on the Hondius - a Dutch couple and a German national. Hantaviruses are most commonly transmitted by wild rodents, although person-to-person transmission can occur in rare situations involving close contact.
The World Health Organization on Monday reported seven confirmed cases of the Andes strain of hantavirus linked to the incident and two additional suspected cases. One of the suspected cases involved a person who died before being tested, and the other was reported on Tristan da Cunha, a remote island in the South Atlantic, where testing was not available.
Among the confirmed cases, a French passenger tested positive after the ship docked in the Canary Islands on Sunday; French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said the passenger was in intensive care but in a stable condition after a brief deterioration in health. "Our compatriot who tested positive for Hantavirus is still in intensive care in a stable condition," he said.
Spanish authorities reported that one person among 14 Spaniards quarantined at a military hospital in Madrid has tested positive for the virus. The Spanish Health Ministry said on Monday evening that the patient showed no symptoms and that additional testing was being conducted before a final determination was announced.
This situation continues to involve multiple countries and institutions as passengers are repatriated and medical teams monitor exposed individuals. Authorities and the hospital involved have signaled intentions to review procedures to reduce the likelihood of similar exposures in the future.