WHO Says Hantavirus Outbreak Almost Over as Quarantine Ends for Last of US Passengers

The outbreak sickened people on a cruise ship.

Port vessels accompany the MV Hondius as it departs the Granadilla Port after all passengers were evacuated in Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands, Spain, on May 11, 2026. Chris McGrath/Getty Images

The hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship that had visited some remote islands is nearly over, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), as the last Americans who were on the ship and still in quarantine left for their homes.

“We’re closing in on ending this outbreak,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, said in a statement on June 23.