After three days anchored off the coast of Praia unable to dock, the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius finally departed Cape Verde on Thursday and set course for Spain’s Canary Islands, leaving behind a relieved population that credited its government with a decisive — and divisive — call to keep the vessel at sea.
The ship, operated by Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions, had been at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak that killed three people and infected at least eight others during a weekslong polar cruise that began in Argentina and headed toward Antarctica before the medical emergency forced a change of plans.
When the MV Hondius arrived off the coast of Cape Verde seeking to disembark passengers, authorities in Praia refused permission to dock. Three patients — two confirmed hantavirus cases and one suspected — were evacuated by authorities in protective gear and transferred to a local hospital for isolation treatment. Once those transfers were complete, the ship was ordered to leave.
The Right Call, Locals Say
Reactions among Cape Verdeans were overwhelmingly positive, with many residents saying the authorities had put public health first despite the financial temptation that tourism arrivals can bring.
“I think they did well, because if the boat let people off here, it could be a problem, because of the virus,” said Edmilsion Semedo, a construction worker in Praia. “And then we could catch it.”
Manuela Silva, a market trader in the capital, was more emphatic. “The government did the right thing — they didn’t let the ship stop in our harbour, because they can bring this virus to all of us,” she said. “And then we could catch it.”
The country’s position was made more delicate by the fact that Cape Verde is in the middle of a historic moment in its football history: the national team qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time ever in October of last year, and football remains a central talking point across the islands.
Tour guide Daniel Debarros said he hoped the episode would ultimately bring positive attention to the country rather than association with a health scare. “With Cape Verde, no stress,” he said, using a popular local slogan. “You can enjoy the beautiful weather, the landscapes. Also, the music. It’s very important in our culture. We have also football, like you guys see, we qualified for the first time for the World Cup.”
The Outbreak and Its Origins
The outbreak was confirmed aboard the MV Hondius on May 2, but the index case — a Dutch man — died aboard the ship on April 22 while the vessel was still in the South Atlantic. His wife disembarked at a stop in Saint Helena, flew to South Africa, and later died there, becoming the second fatality.
A third person, also Dutch, died aboard the ship before the outbreak was identified. The deaths triggered a scramble by health authorities across multiple continents to trace contacts and contain the spread of the disease, which has been confirmed to be the Andes virus — the only hantavirus species known to transmit between humans.
Thirty passengers left the vessel at Saint Helena in April, and the Dutch Foreign Ministry said around 40 people in total had disembarked before the vessel arrived off Cape Verde.
A Rare Global Moment for a Small Nation
The episode placed Cape Verde — a nation of around 600,000 people on 10 volcanic islands in the mid-Atlantic — at the center of global health news for several days. For a country that rarely features in international headlines beyond climate change vulnerability and migration debates, the coverage was an unusual spotlight.
Health officials globally have sought to downplay the risk of a larger outbreak, noting that hantavirus transmission between humans is rare and generally requires prolonged close contact. But the World Health Organization said it was monitoring the situation and working with national authorities in all countries where passengers had disembarked.