The vessel is heading toward Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, where nearly 150 passengers, including at least 17 Americans, are expected to disembark.
State and local health authorities in the US are monitoring at least eight passengers who left the ship on April 24 and returned home. None have been required to quarantine so far as they have not shown symptoms.
Beginning Sunday, global health agencies will assist in repatriating the remaining passengers, all currently asymptomatic. Passengers will reportedly be transported through strictly isolated and secured zones before boarding supervised vehicles to a segregated area at the local airport.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Friday that it is deploying epidemiologists and medical personnel to the Canary Islands to assist American citizens on board before transporting them by air to Nebraska for quarantine.
Since early April, six passengers aboard the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius have been confirmed infected, with two additional suspected cases under investigation. Three people have died, including a Dutch couple and a German woman.
The Andes strain of the Hantavirus linked to the outbreak is the only known variant capable of human-to-human transmission. The virus is primarily spread through contact with rodents or their urine, feces or saliva. The pygmy rice rat, which carries the strain, is native to South America.
