Second plane believed to be carrying a sick passenger from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius arrives at the Schiphol airport, near Amsterdam on May 7, 2026. MICHEL VAN BERGEN / AFP
The World Health Organization said on Thursday, May 7, that there were now five confirmed hantavirus cases from the Atlantic cruise ship outbreak, with three more suspected, and warned more cases were possible. The WHO said it expected the outbreak on the MV Hondius, currently sailing from Cape Verde to the Spanish island of Tenerife, to be limited, so long as public health measures were properly implemented.
"So far, eight cases have been reported, including three deaths. Five of the eight cases have been confirmed as hantavirus and the other three are suspected," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
"The species of hantavirus involved in this case is the Andes virus, which is found in Latin America," he told journalists in Geneva. "Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it's possible that more cases may be reported," he added.
The Dutch-flagged ship left Ushuaia in Argentina on April 1 on its cruise north through the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde. It set sail north toward Tenerife on Wednesday. Tedros said he had been in regular contact with the ship's captain.
