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Hantavirus live updates: Spanish authorities preparing for the arrival of M/V Hondius

Teams will bring back Americans to the National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska.

ByChristopher Watson, Ivan Pereira, Jon Haworth, Mary Kekatos, and Nadine El-Bawab
Last Updated: May 9, 2026, 5:19 PM EDT

Global health authorities are working to contain an outbreak of hantavirus aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.

The total number of confirmed cases associated with the outbreak is increasing, health officials said. To date, three people who were aboard the ship are known to have died of the virus.

More than 100 passengers remain on the ship, including 17 Americans, and the World Health Organization is monitoring their health. Officials said that the "overall public health risk remains low" but that there may be some person-to-person spread.

Health officials in multiple states say they're monitoring some passengers who have returned to the U.S. after being aboard the ship for potential hantavirus infections.

Key Headlines

Here's how the news is developing.
May 8, 10:44 am

What is hantavirus and how does it spread?

Here's what you need to know about hantavirus including what it is, how it spreads, how it's treated and if there are any prevention methods:

What is hantavirus?

Hantaviruses are a family of viruses that can cause serious illnesses and death, according to the CDC.

Stock photo of a colorized electron micrograph of the Hantavirus.
Alfred Pasieka/Science Photo Lib/STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images

How does hantavirus spread?

Hantaviruses may also spread from person to person, but that also is rare and only suspected for one subtype from South America, according to the WHO.

Read more about hantavirus here.

12:21 PM EDT

No mandatory quarantine for US passengers: CDC official

A CDC official said Saturday the federal government doesn't plan to have the repatriated American cruise ship passengers quarantine upon arrival in Nebraska.

"We are not quarantining anybody,” a CDC official told reporters on a call Saturday.

Crew members of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026.
AP

As of Saturday none of the 17 Americans aboard the cruise have tested positive for the hantavirus, according to CDC officials.

When asked if passengers will be tested, a CDC official said, "it is not recommended to test people that do not have symptoms."

Federal officials walked through their plan for the passengers.

Each passenger is set to be evaluated upon arrival in the U.S., and they may opt to go home and watch for any potential symptoms for 42 days while staying in touch with their state or local health departments, the officials said.

Officials may recommend that passengers doing home-based monitoring limit their activities outside the house to those that don't involve extensive interactions with other people.

In this screen grab from a video, a room at the National Quarantine Unit is shown at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
University of Nebraska Medical Center

While the National Quarantine Unit in Nebraska will be available to them, there are no plans to mandate quarantine, according to officials. The officials said they hope the passengers will be in Nebraska for a limited amount of time.

-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud

1:40 AM EDT

Spanish authorities preparing port area in Tenerife to receive passengers

Spanish authorities are preparing the port area in Tenerife to receive passengers with repatriation flights scheduled for the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands, according to Reuters.

Workers set up tents at an expected reception point for passengers from the MV Hondius at the Granadilla Port on May 9, 2026, in Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands, Spain.
Chris McGrath/Getty Images

"To assist those European Union countries that do not have air transport resources available, the European Civil Protection Mechanism has made two aircraft available, and the necessary flights for the transfer will be scheduled throughout the course of today, Saturday," Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said at a press conference Saturday, according to Reuters.

"Disembarkation will be carried out in groups based on nationality, as the minister has stated. Only when the aircraft bound for a specific country is on the runway, ready to fly to that country, will nationals of that country be disembarked and taken there, using transport provided by the Spanish army," Grande-Marlaska said.

9:13 AM EDT

Vessel expected to arrive early Sunday local time

The vessel is expected to arrive in Tenerife and be anchored between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. local time Sunday, according to the health ministry in Madrid.

Members of the Netherlands' consulate visit the port of Granadilla de Abona, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, where the cruise ship MV Hondius hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak is expected to arrive, May 9, 2026.
Borja Suarez/Reuters

Fourteen Spanish passengers will be the first to be transferred to the Port of Granadilla.

-ABC News' Aicha Elhammar

4:57 AM EDT

All passengers on M/V Hondius will began to evacuate within the next 24 hours

An official from the Canarias Region government said that all passengers on the M/V Hondius will began to evacuate within the next 24 hours.

PHOTO: Members of the Spanish Civil Guard wait for the arrival of the Cruise MV Hondius at port of Granadilla de Abona on the island of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands on May 9, 2026.
Members of the Spanish Civil Guard wait for the arrival of the Cruise MV Hondius at port of Granadilla de Abona on the island of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands on May 9, 2026. A cruise ship hit with a deadly hantavirus outbreak is expected to reach waters off Tenerife at dawn, with WHO chief also due on the archipelago to help coordinate the ship's evacuation.
Jorge Guerrero/AFP via Getty Images

The officials said that the government's plan is to not allow any of the passengers to put members of the population into any type of risk.

If passenger is not ready to be transferred directly to airplane of their destination, then they will not be able to leave the vessel, the officials said.

Leaving by nationality, passengers will be transferred to the port wearing full protective equipment to avoid any contact with Canarias territory and they will be escorted by a few buses via TF1 route to the airport, which will take approximately 15 minutes to reach the airport.

-ABC News' Aicha El Hammar Castano

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