The MV Hondius is expected to dock in the Dutch port between 9am-11am Irish time today before they bring the 27 remaining people on board ashore.
The ship operated by the Dutch company Oceanwide Expeditions, has been in the headlines the past couple of weeks due to the outbreak of hantavirus on board. Hantavirus spreads from the urine, faeces and saliva of infected rodents. The disease is endemic in Argentina, where the ship began its journey.
Those infected have the Andes virus, which is the only strain of hantavirus that can spread between people.
Hantavirus has been confirmed in six patients, with one other probable case, according to an AFP tally from official sources. Another patient in Canada has provisionally tested positive, however they do not exhibit any symptoms and are to be monitered closely.
The ship arrived in the Canary Islands on May 10th so more than 120 passengers and crew could evacuate and start their 42 day quarantine, either in their home country or in the Netherlands. The Dutch government holds a responsibility to aid passengers quarantine as the ship is Dutch flagged.
Those disembarking from the ship today in Rotterdam include 17 from the Philippines, four from the Netherlands, four from Ukraine, one from Russia and one from Poland. Also on board includes the body of a German woman who died during the voyage.
After the ship docks, it will undergo thorough cleaning and disinfection procedures, according to the operator.
The WHO released a statement late yesterday and said that it was maintaining its assessment of the hantavirus outbreak as "low risk".
"While additional cases may still occur among passengers and crew members exposed before containment measures were implemented, the risk of onward transmission is expected to be reduced following disembarkation and the implementation of control measures," it said.
WHO Head of Communications on Emergencies Nyka Alexander has assured people that hantavirus is "not a new virus" and has cases reported every year "so, it's not new. And we've seen that when it's not in a ship where people are in such close contact with those very particular dynamics that you have in a closed environment, when it's back in a wider setting, a more open setting where people can stay away from others, it doesn't spread," she said.
