MV Hondius Hantavirus Outbreak: The Full Timeline of How a Cruise Ship Became a Global Health Emergency

It started with a single sick passenger somewhere in the South Atlantic. Within weeks, it had claimed three lives, alarmed health ministries on four continents, and put the entire global disease response system to the test. Here is the complete timeline of the MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak.

April 1, 2026: The MV Hondius departs Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world, carrying 147 passengers and crew from 23 nationalities, bound for Antarctica and remote South Atlantic islands. Argentine authorities confirm no passengers showed symptoms at departure.

April 6–11: The first cases begin showing symptoms, fever, gastrointestinal illness, and respiratory deterioration. The 70-year-old Dutch man at the centre of the outbreak died aboard the ship on April 11.

April 24: The ship reaches Saint Helena. The Dutchman's body is removed. His wife, already unwell, disembarks with him. Separately, 30 other passengers also leave the ship at Saint Helena, unaware of any confirmed infection on board.

April 25–26: The Dutch woman deteriorates on her flight to Johannesburg and dies upon arrival at the emergency department on April 26. A British male passenger who had presented to the ship's doctor with pneumonia is worsening by this point and is evacuated from Ascension Island to South Africa on April 27.

May 2: A German woman aboard the ship dies. South African laboratories confirm hantavirus in the British evacuee, the first laboratory-confirmed case of the outbreak. WHO receives its first official notification the same day.

May 3–6: The ship docks in Cape Verde. Three critically ill passengers, including the ship's doctor, are medically evacuated to Europe. The Canary Islands refuse the ship entry. Switzerland confirms a new case in Zurich, bringing the total to eight.

May 7: WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus briefs global media, confirms five laboratory-confirmed cases and three deaths, and assesses overall public health risk as low while warning more cases may emerge.

May 11 (scheduled): Coordinated disembarkation of all remaining passengers and crew is set to begin in Spain's Canary Islands under WHO supervision, bringing one of the most extraordinary maritime health emergencies in recent memory closer to its end.