Remaining Canadians on cruise ship at the centre of hantavirus outbreak to disembark

A worker prepares the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Friday, May 8, 2026.

The remaining Canadians aboard a cruise ship at the centre of a hantavirus outbreak are set to disembark early Sunday morning local time.

Oceanwide Expeditions, the ship’s owner and cruise organizer, says four Canadians and dozens of other asymptomatic passengers are to exit the MV Hondius vessel at a port in Tenerife, an island in Spain’s Canary Islands.

It says representatives from a number of groups, including the World Health Organization, will screen passengers at the port, and organize their quarantining. The vessel will then be taken to the Netherlands.

“The atmosphere on board continues to remain positive,” Oceanwide Expeditions said in a Saturday statement.

“Guests and crew continue to follow the guidance of onboard medical personnel, and medical monitoring continues.”

The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the exact time the cruise would dock.

A number of Canadians have been connected with the hantavirus outbreak on the ship, which began its voyage on April 1 in Argentina and has seen three non-Canadian passengers die.

At least six Canadians were aboard the cruise ship while the others, including two people from Alberta and a person from Quebec, possibly came in contact with someone with hantavirus symptoms on a flight.

Two of the six Canadian passengers disembarked with 30 others on the remote island of St. Helena on April 24, before WHO detected the outbreak on May 2. They were from Ontario, and officials say they are asymptomatic and self-isolating.

In a Saturday statement, WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reassured residents of Tenerife, some of whom were worried about virus spread after the ship’s evacuation.

“I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest,” he said.

“The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment...But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low.”

Hantavirus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people.

It can cause life-threatening illness.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 9, 2026.

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press

With files from The Associated Press