Europe
A Spain's Guardia Civil boat sails next to Dutch flagged hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius in the port of Granadilla de Abona on the island of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands on May 11, 2026. (AFP/Jorge Guerrero)
A cruise ship which sparked a global health alert over a deadly outbreak of hantavirus was on Saturday cleared to put to sea again after cleaning and disinfection."From a public health perspective, there are no longer any obstacles to putting the Hondius back to sea," the public health agency in the Dutch port of Rotterdam said following a final inspection on Friday.
During the checks, infection control experts "determined that the Hondius had been cleaned effectively and that disinfection had been carried out in accordance with established guidelines," a statement said.
The owner of the MV Hondius, Oceanwide Expeditions, this week said that the Hondius would leave Rotterdam once inspections were complete, and that it would resume its cruise schedule from June 13.
