3 people evacuated from cruise ship impacted by hantavirus outbreak

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Okay, we have an update about the deadly hantavirus outbreak. The World Health Organization says three people with possible symptoms of the disease were removed from the cruise ship where the virus outbreak started and they're now on their way to the Netherlands for treatment. Now, there's also been some confusion about how passengers on the ship were handled. There was a request for the vessel to dock in space in Spain's Canary Islands for a full investigation, but the leader of the islands rejected the plan demanding a meeting with Spain's prime minister.

[00:00:31]Let's bring in CBS News correspondent Tom Hanson. Hey Tom, so what's going on with the ship at this hour and with the rest of the passengers and the crew?

[00:00:41]Hey there Mugo. Well, yeah, this is subject to much debate between the government of Spain and the leadership in the Canary Islands. What we do know now is just moments ago the the ship actually did begin to move off the coast of Cape Verde. So, it is headed in the general direction of the Canary Islands.

[00:00:57]We're told Tenerife is the target there, but understandably a lot of people on the ground they're very concerned about any potential for transmission to the population there. Now, health experts have assured the public that they are going to keep the people who are on the ship once they disembark um separated from the general public. They are going to going to undergo a medical evaluation uh to see if they are presenting any sorts of symptoms. We're told by the WHO by the way that because of the long incubation period of the hantavirus which can stretch up to eight weeks for people to actually show symptoms that if people are unwell when they get off the boat, they will be quarantined for up to two months. So, for those people who are breathing a sigh of relief on that ship, uh they're not quite out of the woods just yet. But, you know, we are also monitoring a number of other things. The WHO came out yesterday and said that they were urging people who were on a specific flight uh that was along the ship route St. Helena to Johannesburg, to monitor themselves for any sort of illness or any sort of conditions um that could be uh attached to the hantavirus. So, there is a flight that is being monitored as well by the WHO in addition to the contact tracing that is already being done in Africa and in Europe. WHO certainly has its hands full with this one, but they urge the public not to be overly concerned about this.

[00:02:23]And this is something that can't be overstated, Mugo. This is a difficult disease to spread. This is not a pandemic-causing disease, as our Dr. Celine Gounder put it yesterday. That's because typically this disease is spread through close uh exposure to DNA matter from rats. We're talking urine, we're talking fecal matter, we're talking saliva, and the dust particles that can kick up um from that kind of DNA. There are very few strains um that transmit from person to person. Unfortunately, that is the strain that they have concluded, um the Andes strain, uh which can transmit from person to person. But they want to urge the public not to be overly concerned with this because even with that strain that transmits from person to person, it has to be with prolonged exposure to someone who is carrying the virus. So, that's very close contact for a long period of time with someone who is who is infected. Um generally speaking, that is not a huge concern for another global pandemic like we saw with COVID-19, Mugo. Yeah, very important to distinguish that with COVID. Um Tom, we're also hearing about a new hantavirus case in Switzerland.

[00:03:33]What can you tell us about that?

[00:03:36]Yeah, absolutely. Well, I want to pull up a statement from the Swiss Office of Public Health. One person with a hantavirus infection is currently being treated at the University Hospital Zurich. Uh the patient is male and returned to Switzerland after traveling on that cruise ship. So, this person was clearly evacuated from the cruise ship, but this is a case that is still tied to that suspected outbreak of the hantavirus on that cruise ship. This is not a new case that has popped up in Switzerland separate from the incident that we've been covering over the last week, Muga. Yeah, also important to point that out as well. Let people know no reason to freak out just yet. Tom Hanson, thank you so much for your reporting today. We appreciate it.