All passengers on the cruise ship M/V Hondius are scheduled to begin evacuation within 24 hours, Canary Islands officials said. Authorities said their priority is preventing any risk to the local population. Passengers will be transferred from the vessel to the port wearing full protective equipment, grouped by nationality, and escorted by buses along the TF1 route to the airport; the drive to the airport is expected to take about 15 minutes. Officials also said passengers who are not ready to board a flight directly to their destination will not be allowed to disembark the ship.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued an alert to doctors and state and local health departments to be aware of the potential for imported hantavirus cases connected to the outbreak on the ship. The CDC says the risk of widespread transmission in the United States is currently considered extremely unlikely. There have been no confirmed U.S. hantavirus cases tied to the cruise; at least nine U.S. residents across six states are being monitored and, so far, none have shown symptoms.
The CDC’s Health Alert Network advisory reminds clinicians that suspected hantavirus patients should be placed in an isolated room and that health care personnel should use appropriate personal protective equipment: gown, gloves, eye protection and an N95 respirator (or a higher-level respirator). Clinicians are urged to consider hantavirus in patients who present with compatible symptoms and known contact with an infected person.
State updates: The California Department of Public Health announced it is monitoring one returned passenger for potential hantavirus infection. Local health officials are conducting daily temperature checks, evaluating for hantavirus-consistent symptoms and advising activity modifications as part of routine public health protocol. Federal officials notified California that a second state resident remains on board the ship. Officials reiterate that none of the monitored U.S. residents have developed symptoms to date.
CDC response and logistics: The agency deployed a team to the Canary Islands to conduct exposure risk assessments for each American passenger and to recommend monitoring levels. U.S. passengers will be evacuated on a U.S. government medical repatriation flight to Nebraska and transferred to a quarantine center at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. An additional CDC team will be sent to Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Nebraska, to support public health assessments of returning passengers.
Public health context: Hantaviruses can cause severe respiratory illness but are typically spread by contact with infected rodents or their droppings; person-to-person transmission is rare and depends on the specific hantavirus strain. Authorities emphasize that current measures — isolation of suspected cases, protective equipment for health workers, careful monitoring of exposed travelers and controlled repatriation — are intended to limit any risk and protect both the traveling public and local communities.
Officials will continue to provide updates as investigations and monitoring proceed.