A hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship MS Hondius has involved passengers from at least five countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Belgium, and Greece. According to a joint statement from British health officials, asymptomatic passengers have been repatriated to the UK. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was initially slow to respond, raising questions from public health experts about the U.S. government’s involvement in managing the situation.

Delayed U.S. Government Response

Experts questioned the lack of immediate U.S. public health action as the CDC was not involved in early stages of the outbreak, according to AP News. The agency did not issue health alerts to doctors or deploy teams until late Friday. A CDC team was eventually sent to the Canary Islands, where the ship was expected to arrive, and a second team was dispatched to Nebraska to prepare for the quarantine of American passengers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Lawrence Gostin, an international public health expert at Georgetown University, said, “The CDC is not even a player; I’ve never seen that before.” By contrast, health experts in other countries have been primarily handling the outbreak in the past week.

Passenger Repatriation and Quarantine Plans

British passengers were evacuated on a chartered flight and arrived in Manchester, where they were taken to Wirral’s Arrowe Park hospital for up to 72 hours of medical assessment and testing. A joint statement from NHS England North West, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB, Merseyside Police, and Wirral Council said the risk to the general population remains very low. After the initial 72-hour stay. Public health specialists will determine if passengers can isolate at home or at another suitable location.

German passengers were evacuated to the Netherlands and taken to Eindhoven, where they were met by Red Cross workers and city officials; Four German passengers were transported to Frankfurt am Main by fire department personnel in a special isolation transport. They will later be sent to their home states in Germany, where local health authorities will manage their quarantine; If symptoms appear during transport, patients will be taken to the University Hospital in Düsseldorf.

International Coordination and Public Health Measures

According to German health officials. All evacuated passengers were asymptomatic at the time of departure from Spain. The infected ship had been docked in the Canary Islands after a 65-year-old passenger, who had close contact with an onboard fatality, was transferred to the University Hospital Düsseldorf for isolation.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters. “We seem to have things under very good control,” as reported by AP News, and However, the U.S. government’s response was characterized by delays in communication and deployment of resources compared to other countries involved in the outbreak.

Health agencies across the U.K. and Germany emphasized that the risk to the general public remains low, and normal hospital operations continue without disruption. The U.K. Health Security Agency and other government bodies have been coordinating with local authorities to ensure the safe and supported repatriation of affected passengers.

As of now, the CDC has issued its first health alert to U.S. doctors, advising them to be prepared for potential imported hantavirus cases. The situation remains under observation as international health officials continue to monitor developments and manage quarantine protocols across multiple countries.