US vs Europe: huge differences in protocol for passengers of hantavirus-hit ship
The last passengers aboard the MV Hondius were finally evacuated this week from the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak. However, once repatriated to their home countries, they faced widely differing public health protocols for containing the virus. The United States stands out for its particularly relaxed approach.
Issued on: 12/05/2026 - 16:57
5 min Reading time Share By: Sébastian SEIBT
All 122 passengers and crew members aboard the MV Hondius have now been evacuated after a lethal strain of the hantavirus was found on the ship. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least eight people have been infected so far (two suspected cases and six laboratory-confirmed).
Read moreFinal passengers of hantavirus-hit ship evacuated in Canary Islands after weather delay
After three of them died, the remaining passengers were evacuated on the Spanish island of Tenerife under strict supervision to prevent additional spread. The repatriation flights carrying the passengers – which in all totalled 23 nationalities – were also kept under close watch. But from there on, it has been up to the individual countries to decide on what type of protocol they want to implement.
“We’re implementing the strictest measures in Europe,” France’s Health Minister Stéphanie Rist told broadcaster France Info as an incoming French national had tested positive for the virus.
Australia took an equally precautious approach, saying its response would be “one of the stronger you will see around the world”.
‘Not Covid-19’
Similar announcements were made by both Britain and the Netherlands.
Not in the United States.
“This is not Covid,” Jay Bhattacharya, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), declared on CNN as the US prepared for the return of 17 Americans.
One of the Americans has tested positive for the Andes strain of the hantavirus. Piet Maes, a virologist at the University of Brussels and head of the International Hantavirus Society, explained that the strain is the only one known to be transmissible between humans.
But acting CDC head Bhattacharya, who grew controversial during the pandemic for opposing certain security measures related to the coronavirus, has not been the only one drawing parallels to Covid-19.
In an open letter trying to reassure the people of Tenerife, whose port hosted the virus-stricken ship as it reached land on Sunday, WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “This is not another Covid. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low.”
Nevertheless, the global health body has still recommended that concerned countries and authorities “should conduct daily follow-up for 42 days after disembarkation, during which time the passenger should be advised to avoid contact with other persons through remaining in designated facilities or at home”.
Europe plays it safe
In most countries – especially across Europe – this has resulted in stringent measures and close monitoring of returning passengers.
The five passengers from France, for example, have “until further notice” been placed in isolation in specially designed rooms “equipped with airflows that prevent contamination” at the Bichat hospital in Paris, health minister Rist said.
Britain’s 20 repatriated passengers have been placed in a special isolation facility. The facility has six floors of self-contained flats that are equipped with their own bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchens and lounges.
According to British protocol, all passengers must undergo testing and other clinical assessments within 72 hours of arriving. After that, they have to isolate for 42 days, in line with WHO recommendations. The isolation period corresponds with the time frame during which symptoms are most likely to appear.
“Most people who get infected will develop symptoms within about two weeks. But there is a long tail of people who will become ill later than two weeks,” Paul Hunter, an epidemiologist and professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia in Britain, said.
Some countries have planned their isolations into the smallest detail. Dutch nationals, for example, were “transported by minivan to their homes where they will spend their isolation”, a spokesman for the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) told FRANCE 24.
In the Netherlands, the 42-day isolation period is being counted from May 6 – the day the first passengers infected with the Andes strain disembarked from MV Hondius.
Professor Hunter explained that the incubation window normally starts from the last known contact with a confirmed case, and that close monitoring is recommended for the full suspected period.
While in isolation, the Dutch passengers are only allowed to “take short walks outside, during which they must not come closer than 1.5 metres to other people, and they must wear face masks”, the RIVM spokesperson said. They are also required to report to the local health authorities on a daily basis. Other European countries have adopted similar measures.
'Lowest level emergency'
The strict European protocol stands in stark contrast to the American one.
In the US, passengers are being evaluated at a highly specialised quarantine unit in Nebraska. But if the evaluation goes well, and they then test negative for the hantavirus, they are allowed to return home. Although they too have to report to their state’s health authorities daily, they do not have to self-isolate.
“If it’s a high-risk exposure … there will be some modified activities that we would recommend, limiting activities outside the house that don’t involve extensive interactions with other people,” a CDC official told CNN.
CNN reported that the CDC has classified its hantavirus response as Level 3, meaning the lowest level of emergency.
Given what is known about the virus’s limited transmission, the WHO has assessed the risk to the general public to be “low” – except in cases involving prolonged and close contact with an infected person.
“It's not Covid, definitely not. So I agree that we should not use the same very strict rules [as with Covid-19]. But on the other hand, we don't know everything about this virus yet so we need to be cautious,” Maes of the International Hantavirus Society said.
And, he added, “the virus still has a mortality rate of 30 percent”.
Isolation in facilities would also allow for rapid intervention should any of the MV Hondius passengers suddenly fall ill. “In three to four days, a person can go from healthy to nearly dead,” Maes warned.
Such containment may also lower the risk if the virus mutates. “We can't yet say for certain that there hasn't been some evolution in the virus, [but] at the moment there is no evidence of that,” Hunter said.
Maes agreed. “How much is one life worth compared to 150 others that you put in quarantine?” he asked. “If you can save one life, you should do it.”
This article was translated from the original in French.
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