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Learning English from the News

Upper intermediate level

Passengers evacuated from hantavirus-affected MV Hondius

Episode 260513 / 13 May 2026

(Photo by Chris McGrath via Getty Images)

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The story

All passengers have now left the Dutch cruise ship, MV Hondius after a voyage that lead to the death of three passengers from hantavirus. The virus is usually found in rats. One passenger is thought to have caught the virus while birdwatching in Ushuaia, Argentina, where the ship's journey began.

The virus does not easily spread between people, but people who do catch it often die. The World Health Organisation has said that there is no sign of a larger outbreak at the moment, but as the disease takes a long time to develop, this could change. Many countries have taken action to isolate or quarantine their citizens who returned from the ship.

News headlines 

Hantavirus: After first positive case in France, government aims to 'break chain' of transmission
Le Monde

Hantavirus: Testing ‘well under way’ for cruise Britons isolating at UK hospital
ITVX

Logbook of the ‘MV Hondius’: From Ushuaia to the Canary Islands, chronology of a hantavirus outbreak
El Pais

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Key words and phrases

break the chain
stop something continuing

  • Don't talk to me now, you'll break my chain of thought.

under way
in progress

  • Rehearsals for our play are now well under way.

chronology
sequence of events

  • The investigators established a chronology of what happened.

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