Infected with the hantavirus Spanish cruise passengers now fear stigmatization
This is triggered by sensational reports and memes on social media. The WHO is trying to calm the situation: The hantavirus is not comparable to corona and human-to-human transmission is rare.
09.05.2026, 20:15
09.05.2026, 20:21
dpa
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- Following the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship, the first passengers are to be flown out to their home countries shortly after arriving in Tenerife on Sunday.
- Concerns are spreading among Spanish passengers about being stigmatized as virus carriers.
- As was the case during the coronavirus period, some people do not believe the assessments of medical experts.
In the days since the outbreak of the hantavirus on a cruise ship in the Atlantic, concern has spread among some Spanish passengers. However, they are less worried about being infected than about how they will be received on their return ashore. This has been triggered by lurid media reports and malicious memes that pillory passengers on board the "Hondius".
"If you look at social media - they want to blow up the ship," a passenger from Spain told the AP news agency by telephone. "They want to sink it." He was worried about being stigmatized as a virus carrier that should be avoided - or worse. Because of these concerns, the man preferred to remain anonymous, as did another Spanish passenger.
"You see what's going on outside and realize that you're heading straight into the eye of a hurricane," she explains. "Many people forget that there are more than 140 passengers in here. In reality, there are 140 people."
Memories of the time of the pandemic
A cruise ship on which a virus spreads brings back memories of the coronavirus era. However, according to the World Health Organization, such a comparison is inappropriate. For days, representatives of the WHO have been trying to invalidate parallels between the coronavirus and the hantavirus. They emphasize that the hantavirus poses only a very low risk to the general public.
"This is a completely different virus. I want to be very clear here," said Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO's Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness Program. "This is not the beginning of a Covid pandemic."
The hantavirus is usually transmitted by inhaling contaminated rodent excrement and is not easily passed from person to person. However, the Andes type detected during the outbreak on the cruise ship can also spread between humans in rare cases.
Resistance from politicians
As during the corona period, some people do not believe the assessments of medical experts. The Spanish group "Iustitia Europa", which gained notoriety for its opposition to restrictions during the pandemic, called for the "Hondius" to be banned from calling at Spanish ports. "The Canary Islands must not become Europe's health laboratory," the group wrote on Platform X. "We demand transparency, responsibility and protection for the Spanish to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past."
Others are more on the defensive. The regional president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, told the Spanish newspaper "El País" that he would only be able to sleep peacefully again once the ship had left Spain and all passengers were on their way to their respective quarantine locations. The regional president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, disagreed with the decision to transfer the 14 Spanish passengers on the ship to a military hospital in the Spanish capital. According to the authorities, they will be quarantined there.
"Society is contaminated"
"We have seen reports that nobody wants this boat. That it was a boat full of infected people - a boat of multimillionaires, full of rats," says the Spanish passenger. "Society is contaminated to a certain extent - by a lot of noise and a lot of lies." However, he takes some comfort from the assurance from the Spanish authorities that they will receive official escort when they arrive on Tenerife. Port workers on the Canary Island protested on Thursday and criticized the lack of information about the planned protective measures.
It is planned that the passengers and crew members will begin to leave the ship on Sunday.
The Spaniard reports that a group of specialists came on board while the ship was still off the coast of Cape Verde. They had informed him about how rare human-to-human transmission is and thus reassured him. He described the daily routine on board the "Hondius" as relaxed: Anyone who ventures out of their cabin into the communal areas relaxes there by reading or attending lectures - always wearing a face mask and observing social distancing rules. Some do gymnastics together on deck in the morning.
Cruises not ruled out in the future
Others go out into the fresh air and try to spot birds. Many of the passengers had hoped to return from some of the most remote places on earth with photos of wildlife. They did not want to find themselves in the glare of world publicity.
Nevertheless, both Spanish passengers say they could imagine going on a cruise again in the future. "For me personally, traveling is a means to live out what I'm passionate about - observing and documenting nature," explains the Spaniard. "Of course I would go on a cruise again."
