Rotterdam, Netherlands: A cruise ship that sparked global alarm after a deadly outbreak of hantavirus made its final approach to Rotterdam Monday, with the remaining crew facing weeks of quarantine.
The MV Hondius is expected to dock in the Dutch port between 10am (0800 GMT) and midday (1000 GMT), according to officials, before disembarking the 27 remaining people on board: 25 crew and two medical staff.
AFP reporters on board a separate vessel caught sight of the ship as it steamed towards Rotterdam, Europe's biggest port, for final docking and disinfection.
The ship, operated by Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions, made headlines after three passengers died from hantavirus -- a rare virus for which no vaccines nor specific treatments exist.
The World Health Organization has scrambled to reassure the world that the outbreak was not a repeat of the Covid pandemic, stressing that contagion was very rare.
"There is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters on May 12.
However, the virus has an incubation period of several weeks, meaning more cases from the ship's occupants could emerge in the future, Tedros warned.
Hantavirus has been confirmed in seven patients, with one other probable case, according to an AFP tally from official sources.
The most recent positive test came from Canada in a patient who was onboard the Hondius, officials said late Sunday.
