The Hondius: Cruise ready to sail again after hantavirus outbreak

A cruise ship that was at the centre of a hantavirus outbreak has been disinfected and is ready to set sail again with passengers, its operator says.

The Hondius is to depart on Saturday for the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.

From there, it is due to set off on June 13 on a voyage through the Arctic Ocean, the Dutch cruise line Oceanwide Expeditions said.

Specialists from Dutch health authorities carried out a comprehensive cleaning and disinfection of the ship.

Authorities cleared the vessel for service over the weekend, and there is no longer any risk of infection, the company said.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the hantavirus was brought aboard by passengers and did not originate on the ship, Oceanwide Expeditions said.

All crew members from the previous voyage are still in quarantine, it said.

“A crew transition has taken place, with no crew members on board having had any contact with individuals currently in quarantine.”

In May, it emerged that several people on board the cruise ship had been infected with the hantavirus, a rodent-borne disease that can cause severe respiratory illness.

Three people died and several were infected.

The virus in question was the so-called Andes variant, which is found primarily in South America and is transmissible from person to person.

At the time of the outbreak, the ship was en route from Argentina to the Canary Islands.

In Tenerife, the passengers and most crew members were able to disembark and fly to their home countries.

The World Health Organisation had confirmed that there was no risk of a major wave of infection or a pandemic.

According to experts, infection is far more difficult than with, for example, the flu virus or COVID-19.