Cruise ship cleared after hantavirus outbreak

A Cruise ship which sparked a global health alert over a deadly outbreak of the hantavirus was on Saturday cleared to be put to sea again after cleaning and disinfection.

“From a public health perspective, there are no longer any obstacles to putting the Hondius back to sea,” a public health agency in the Dutch port of Rotterdam said following a final inspection on Friday.

During the checks, infection control experts “determined that the Hondius had been cleaned effectively and that disinfection had been carried out in accordance with established guidelines”, a statement reads.

The owner of the MV Hondius, Oceanwide Expeditions, this week said the Hondius would leave Rotterdam once inspections were complete, and that it would resume its cruise schedule from 13 June.


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