The four Canadian citizens who were aboard a cruise ship stricken with a rare hantavirus outbreak landed in B.C. on Sunday evening, where they will continue their quarantine.
Online plane tracking platform FlightAware says the aircraft carrying the Canadians arrived at the airport in Victoria from Saguenay-Bagotville Airport in Quebec.
They are to isolate in B.C. because they have connections with the province, said B.C’s health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.
“This has undoubtedly been a stressful and difficult experience for the Canadians and everybody aboard the MV Hondius,” Henry said at a Sunday news conference.
WATCH | Canadian cruise ship passengers flown to B.C. after hantavirus outbreak:
Canadians repatriated from hantavirus-stricken cruise ship to be flown to B.C.
The four Canadian citizens who were aboard a cruise ship stricken by a rare hantavirus outbreak are being flown to British Columbia, according to the federal government. As the CBC’s Tanya Fletcher reports, B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says the passengers will isolate in pre-arranged lodgings for their three-week isolation period, which may be extended up to 42 days if necessary, due to the hantavirus’ incubation period.
“They are undoubtedly looking forward to being back home in Canada, where they can get the care and monitoring they need.”
In a Sunday bulletin, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) said the Canadians were first travelling on a chartered aircraft from Tenerife, Spain to Bagotville, Que.\
WATCH | Passengers to quarantine in B.C. for more than 2 weeks:
4 Canadians from hantavirus-hit cruise ship fly to B.C.
Four Canadians from a cruise ship with a deadly hantavirus outbreak were flown to B.C. after docking on one of Spain’s Canary Islands. B.C. health officials said all four are asymptomatic as they begin a 21-day monitored isolation period.
“Upon arrival in B.C., the travellers will be assessed by local public health before leaving the airport to stay at a pre-determined location to self-isolate for a minimum of 21 days” dated back to May 6, the agency said.
PHAC said B.C. health officials will reassess the situation at the end of that period.
WATCH | Canadians leave cruise ship stricken by hantavirus outbreak:
Canadian passengers disembark off hantavirus-hit cruise ship
Passengers aboard the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak have disembarked in Tenerife, Spain, transported to shore by small boats and taken directly to the airport on sealed buses. Canada sent a plane to retrieve four Canadians who were on the MV Hondius, while Spanish authorities say everyone still on board remains asymptomatic.
In a Sunday update, Henry said the passengers would isolate in pre-arranged lodgings in B.C. for their three-week isolation period, which may be extended up to 42 days if necessary, due to the hantavirus’ incubation period.
“At no point during their arrival or isolation period will they be in contact with the public. They will be monitored daily by local public health teams to ensure that they remain well and are safely isolating,” Henry said.
While officials are treating the passengers as if they have been exposed to the virus, none of them have shown symptoms, she said, adding that “secure plans are in place” to keep the public safe if one of them does fall ill.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.’s provincial health officer speaks during a news conference in Victoria on Sunday, May 10, 2026. (The Canadian Press)
Henry said that some of the four have “connections with British Columbia,” but officials are not sharing other details, including their province of origin, and are asking the public to respect their privacy.
“They have been through several challenging weeks when a lot was not known, and of the eight (people) we know have this virus, three of them have died,” she said.
“So, that is a particularly challenging and frightening experience.”
‘It made my stomach clench’
Henry stressed that the hantavirus is “quite different” than COVID-19, and is much more difficult to transmit between humans.
But she said she understood how the news could revive Canadians’ anxiety about the pandemic.
“I absolutely get that feeling,” she said, adding that when she heard about passengers falling ill aboard a cruise ship “it made my stomach clench.”
WATCH | Lessons from COVID-19 in containing the hantavirus:
What COVID-19 taught us about containing the hantavirus outbreak
As a hantavirus-hit cruise ship prepares to anchor off Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands, Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alberta, details how this outbreak differs from the COVID-19 pandemic and how lessons from the latter can be applied here.
Unlike COVID, which usually first presents as an upper respiratory infection that can spread through talking or coughing, the Andes strain of hantavirus causes a deep lung infection that requires extremely close contact to transmit, she said.
University of British Columbia infectious disease specialist Dr. Srinivas Murthy said the passengers aboard the ship who got sick likely had “substantial” exposure to the virus.
“The doctors and other staff members who got hantavirus infection were likely directly within the same room and had extended periods of time with the affected individuals,” he told CBC News.
As a result, he said it was “very unlikely” that the passengers isolating in B.C. would be able to spread the virus, even if they did become sick, due to the strict precautions being taken to isolate them.
However, Henry said B.C. health officials have protocols and specialized teams in place if necessary, including the B.C. Biocontainment Treatment Centre at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
She added the human-transmissible Andes strain is different than the strain of hantavirus found in B.C., which is transmitted through rodent droppings and urine.
Chartered flight
PHAC said a Canadian consular official had been on the ground in Tenerife since Thursday providing support to the four Canadians who had been aboard the MV Hondius.
All four have been following isolation protocols on the ship since May 4, and remain asymptomatic, according to PHAC.
A Euroatlantic Boeing 767 lands at the Bagotville airport in Saguenay, Que. on Sunday, May 10, 2026. The plane is carrying four Canadians that were on a cruise ship that was affected with Hantavirus. (The Canadian Press)
Oceanwide Expeditions, the ship’s owner, says there were four Canadians among about 130 other asymptomatic passengers on board the MV Hondius when it reached port in the Canary Islands on Sunday.
Passengers were given a final health assessment before being brought ashore by small vessels, with physical distancing measures in place, according to PHAC. They were then screened again by Spanish health officials before being transported by bus directly to the airport, the agency said.
A PHAC officer was aboard the repatriation flight, which involved public health measures including masking and physical distancing.
WATCH | Evacuations from cruise ship grappling with hantavirus outbreak:
Hantavirus-hit cruise ship evacuations
The first group of passengers disembarked from the MV Hondius in Tenerife, Spain, on Sunday May 10, 2026 after health officials boarded the ship to conduct evacuation procedures. Spanish authorities say everyone still on board the ship remains asymptomatic for hantavirus.
Three people have died since the outbreak began, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus, which can cause life-threatening illness.
Hantavirus usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Several Canadians have been told to isolate after coming into contact with infected passengers.
A couple from the Grey Bruce region of Ontario disembarked from the ship in late April before the outbreak was declared and have showed no symptoms.
Four other Canadians — from Quebec, Alberta and Ontario — were not on the ship but may have come into contact with someone infected with hantavirus while flying, the federal government said.
