Update: Hondius Arrives in Rotterdam on May 18

Oceanwide Flag

The Hondius is expected to arrive in Rotterdam on Monday, May 18, with 27 people onboard, according to Oceanwide Expeditions.

The vessel has 25 crew members and two medical staff from the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment conducting medical monitoring during the voyage. None is displaying hantavirus symptoms.

Upon arrival, crew members will disembark in a staggered process and follow quarantine procedures outlined by Dutch authorities. The vessel will then undergo thorough cleaning and disinfection.

Meanwhile, a woman is isolating on the Pitcairn Islands after having contact with a hantavirus-exposed individual from the Hondius, according to the BBC.

The woman, a U.S. citizen, flew from San Francisco on May 7 and transited through Tahiti and Mangareva in French Polynesia before arriving at Pitcairn, according to the French Polynesian government.

She is showing no signs of illness and is not a suspected case, officials said. The risk to the public is low.

“The person concerned does not present any hantavirus symptoms and is presently isolated in quarantine in Pitcairn,” the French Polynesian government said.

She will remain in isolation for 45 days, the length required for close contacts of hantavirus cases, according to the UK Health Security Agency.

The Pitcairn Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific, has a population of only about 50 people, most of whom are descendants of HMS Bounty mutineers who settled there in 1790.

The UK Foreign Office said it was coordinating with local authorities and the UK Health Security Agency to manage risks to the individual and islanders.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared “mission accomplished” on the evacuation and repatriation operation on Tuesday, according to Sky News.

“Passengers and crew are now in good hands with experts from their respective countries,” Tedros said.

He added that there was “no sign” of a larger outbreak but warned “the situation could change” and more cases could emerge given the virus’s long incubation period of up to eight weeks.

A French woman who tested positive for hantavirus after leaving the ship remains in critical condition on life support in Paris, according to Dr. Xavier Lescure, an infectious disease specialist at Bichat Hospital.

The woman is being treated with an artificial lung and is in “the final stage of supportive care,” Lescure said.

In France, 22 contact cases have been identified and are under rigorous health monitoring, French Health Minister Stephanie Rist said.

In the UK, 20 British nationals who were isolating at Arrowe Park Hospital in Merseyside will be allowed to leave and complete their isolation at home shortly, the UK Health Security Agency said.

According to News24, South African authorities are monitoring 97 people linked to two confirmed hantavirus cases in the country. A Dutch woman who died at OR Tambo International Airport on April 26 and a British passenger being treated in Johannesburg.

Of the 97 contacts, 90 have been traced and will be monitored for six weeks.

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