The hantavirus cruise

There’s something about a virus-stricken luxury cruise floating around the Atlantic Ocean that just grabs people’s attention. We’re not immune, so slap on some PPE and join us for a quick look at the fascinating geopolitical inflections in this ongoing hantavirus saga.

But first, a quick recap: passengers first boarded the Hondius in Argentina back on April 1, expecting a 35-day luxury expedition via Antarctica to Cape Verde. That odd itinerary is because this was a repositioning cruise: a one-way trip to the ship’s new home port, selling longer cruises at big discounts to passengers open to an unusual journey en route.

But five days in, the first passenger (a 70-year-old Dutch man) showed symptoms of hantavirus: a rare, rodent-borne illness with a fatality rate of up to 40%. Sadly, he then became the first of three deaths, the news went viral, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) mobilised, which brings us to…

The four geopolitical angles to watch:

1. The WHO

The UN’s health arm first found out about the outbreak on May 2nd, via the UK! That’s because London helped medevac a British passenger to South Africa, where he later tested positive, triggering a legal obligation for the UK to notify the WHO immediately.

The WHO has since been notably vocal and active, with the boss himself (Tedros) even jetting to Tenerife (Spain’s Canary Islands) to personally oversee the op. Why?

• The WHO is treating this as a reputational redemption opportunity after it copped heavy criticism over its Covid-era competence, agility, and transparency

• It’s been one of the first major tests of the WHO’s post-Covid reforms, and

• It’s been a chance to remind 192 member states why a UN health body matters.

 But Tedros is also in town because of…

2. The politics

No country realistically volunteers to welcome a ship riddled with a rare and deadly virus.

The Hondius initially dropped anchor at Cape Verde off West Africa, where authorities medevacked three onboard. But the nation of 530,000 folks (smaller area than Delaware) insisted it wasn’t resourced to test, process, disembark, and repatriate the remaining ~150.

And that’s where the politics got intriguing: who takes this ship? Given its Dutch flag, the Netherlands bears overall responsibility, but it’s ~5,000km (two weeks) from Cape Verde!

Meanwhile, Morocco reportedly denied a stopover for the medevac plane from Cape Verde, instead diverting it to Spain’s Tenerife before it reached its final Dutch destination.

So Dutch, Spanish, EU, and WHO authorities huddled for three days until the WHO came out and announced Spain’s Canary Islands would take the cruise.

And of course, that triggered a spat between Spain’s left-leaning Madrid and conservative Tenerife, until they compromised by anchoring the Hondius away from residential areas.

Anyway, it’s another reason why Tedros himself has made this big Canary Islands cameo: to reframe the whole rescue as international solidarity rather than Spain getting shafted.

Meanwhile, Spain has come out looking like the level-headed adult in all this, though a) the PM is telling Spaniards they had a legal obligation, and b) it’s not quite over yet…

3. The evacuations 

With ~23 nationalities aboard, ~23 capitals then got a call from the WHO to politely come get their citizens at their earliest convenience.

There’s generally no legal obligation for governments to jet their own citizens, but in high-profile emergencies, there’s often strong political and reputational pressure to act rather than leave it to the patchwork of private travel insurers and a voracious press.

But that’s where the logistical and consular nightmare starts, from coordinating special medical jets and biocontainment measures, to flyover permissions and even quarantine facilities. The Brits even parachuted army medics into the remote British Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha, to help an ill passenger who’d previously disembarked there. 

Governments sometimes do deals, too: London, for example, offered a Japanese national a seat on a British evacuation flight via a mutual assistance pact they’d just signed! This kind of thing builds genuine rapport and leverage across borders, as opposed to…

4. The origins

In addition to helping limit the hantavirus spread, treat the ill, and paper over cross-border rifts, the WHO is also now investigating how this rare rodent-borne disease reached humans in the first place, a task complicated by a 1-8 week incubation period. 

The leading theory is the original Dutch casualty might’ve inhaled aerosolized particles from infected rodent droppings at a landfill outside Argentina’s Ushuaia. Why visit a dump? He and his wife were birdwatchers, and the landfill attracts rare Patagonian birds.

But locals in Ushuaia, where tourism is a fast-growing industry, are understandably worried by that insinuation, while neighbours like Chile and Uruguay have been quick to deny the couple ever caught the virus on their own turf.

Anyway, a shout-out to the many stressed-out diplomats now helping resolve this mess.