Hospital staff to be quarantined for weeks after hantavirus PPE failure | World | News
TENERIFE, SPAIN – MAY 10: Workers wearing protective gear arrive after the MV Hondius docks at Granadilla Port in Tenerife, part of Spain’s Canary Islands, on May 10, 2026. The MV Hondius cruise ship, whose three passengers died of Hantavirus last month and eight more cases were reported, is expected to arrive in Tenerife on Sunday, May 10, where the remaining passengers will be repatriated. At a press conference this week, representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized that the emergence of this rare virus does not constitute a pandemic but has raised concerns in the Canary Islands and elsewhere. (Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images) (Image: Getty Images)
Hospital staff in the Netherlands faced quarantine after ignoring strict PPE protocols while treating a patient on board the cruise ship MV Hondius who contracted hantavirus.
Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc) confirmed on Monday that 12 staff members put themselves at risk of contamination by not following specific, strict protocols when taking blood and urine samples from an infected person aboard the virus-ridden ship.
The hospital confirmed that 12 healthcare workers would remain in “preventive quarantine for six weeks as a precaution” despite the risk of infection being deemed low.
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Entrance of Radboud University Medical Center, a teaching hospital in Nijmegen, the Netherlands (Image: Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center (UMC St Radboud))
The patient, infected with the rodent-borne virus, has been treated in hospital since Wednesday following a medical evacuation from the ill-fated Dutch ship that has been at the center of an international health emergency in recent weeks. Blood samples were collected from the patient and processed using standard safety precautions. “Due to the nature of the virus, this blood should have been processed according to a more stringent procedure,” a hospital spokesman said on Monday.
“It also became clear that the most up-to-date international regulations were not followed when disposing of the patient’s urine on Saturday, May 9.” The university medical center confirmed that staff will receive all necessary support while in isolation and Radboudumc chairman Dr. Bertine Lahuis moved to reassure the public that the risk to the wider population remains low.
“Although the likelihood of actual infection is very low, these measures have a significant impact on everyone involved. We are sorry that this occurred at our university medical centre,” he said, adding that a careful investigation was once again coming “to learn from this and prevent this from happening in the future”.
His public comments came just days after the infected patient was first triaged at the hospital; The Dutch medical center has assured the public that its staff has strict hantavirus control measures.
TENERIFE, SPAIN – MAY 11: Port ships escort MV Hondius as it leaves the Port of Granadilla after all passengers have been evacuated on May 11, 2026 in Tenerife, part of Spain’s Canary Islands. The cruise ship MV Hondius, whose three passengers died of Hantavirus last month and eight more cases were reported, docked in Tenerife on 10 May and the remaining passengers are being sent back to their home countries. At a press conference this week, representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized that the emergence of this rare virus does not constitute a pandemic, but has raised concerns in the Canary Islands and elsewhere. (Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images) (Image: Getty Images)
A spokesman said at the time: “The ward to which the patient was admitted had appropriate isolation measures in place to prevent spread, in line with internationally accepted protocols. The team is specialized and trained in the care of patients with serious infectious diseases.”
The patient on Radboudumc was one of three people medically evacuated from the MV Hondius, which docked off the coast of Cape Verde last week. They were transported back to the Netherlands, along with another patient who has since been admitted to Leiden University Medical Centre. A third person evacuated from the ship was transported to a hospital in Germany, where he tested negative for hantavirus.
On the Dutch-flagged ship with 147 passengers and crew, 3 people lost their lives following the recent hantavirus outbreak. It was stated that two of the dead were a man and a woman from Friesland, the Netherlands, while the third victim was a German woman.
Passengers remaining on the Dutch-flagged ship were finally able to disembark on Monday, ending weeks of uncertainty.
