Cruise ship with deadly hantavirus outbreak docks in Rotterdam for disinfection

The cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has docked at the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands for disinfection, wrapping up a troubled journey that put international health authorities on alert.

The MV Hondius was carrying 25 crew members and two medical personnel as it reached Rotterdam Monday morning, local time.

Occupants were wearing masks on the deck as the ship was escorted through the port by a tug boat and a Dutch police boat, an Associated Press journalist witnessed.

The crew will now go into quarantine, with those who cannot be immediately repatriated spending their time in the Netherlands.

“Luckily so far the crew has suffered no symptoms,” Yvonne van Duijnhoven, the Director of Public Health in Rotterdam told The Associated Press.

“We have very strict protocols to prevent virus going from the ship towards the outside world,” she said.

Some two dozen passengers and crew are already in quarantine in the Netherlands after arriving in the country on a series of flights over the previous two weeks.

Decontamination begins

After everyone on board has disembarked, the ship will be decontaminated based on Dutch public health guidelines, a process that will take about three days, according to van Duijnhoven.

“Personal protective measures are being taken to ensure that the cleaners do not need to quarantine after the cleaning,” the health ministry said in a letter to the Dutch parliament last week.

Public health officials will inspect the vessel before it is allowed to sail again. The hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius is the first known case on a cruise ship.

The Dutch company that owns the cruise ship said it doesn’t foresee any changes to its operations, and has an Arctic cruise setting sail from Keflavik, Iceland, on May 29.

Passengers return to more than 20 countries

The MV Hondius has spent the past six days sailing from the Canary Islands, where the remaining passengers were escorted off the vessel by personnel in full-body protective gear and boarded flights to more than 20 countries to enter quarantine.

During the outbreak, three passengers who had been aboard the ship died, including a Dutch couple who health officials believe were the first exposed to the virus while visiting South America.

The outbreak on the ship has reached at least 11 cases, nine of which have been confirmed.

Four Australians, one permanent resident, and one New Zealander are in qurantine in Perth after disembarking the MV Hondius.

They will spend three weeks at the Bullsbrook Centre for National Resilience after testing negative for hantavirus and will undergo further health screening.