Hantavirus, flight cancellations, EU entry-exit system and Venezuela
Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast
The Independent
3.6 • 628 Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2026
⏱️ 7 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It is an extremely busy weekend on the travel front, and I am rounding up the headline. There are alarming reports of a small expedition ship off the coast of Cape Verde with cases of hantavirus. Worried airline passengers are contacting me about flight cancellations this summer: my message is, don't panic. The EU entry-exit system is unravelling across Europe, so be prepared for anything.
Finally, Venezuela is now connected with the US for the first time by an American carrier for seven years, with American Airlines going in from Miami to Caracas.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me, Simon Caller. It's Monday the 4th of May. |
| 0:09.1 | And I am, despite it being a bank holiday, bringing you up to date on a whole range of issues because there is simply so much happening. |
| 0:20.4 | Let's start with the very sad news that a British passenger is fighting for life in South Africa. |
| 0:28.9 | Very sadly, two Dutch passengers have died and a third person believed to be a member of crew is ill. |
| 0:37.1 | This is on board a ship that was on its way, |
| 0:41.6 | the MV Hondias from Ushua in in Argentina, the jumping off point for Antarctic tours, |
| 0:50.7 | to St Helena and then onward to Cape Verde. |
| 0:56.0 | The ship, as I speak, is currently off the port of Pryor in Cape Verde. |
| 1:02.0 | They are trying to get permission to land. |
| 1:05.0 | They have contracted, sadly, the people who died appear to have contracted a very nasty virus called |
| 1:13.5 | Hanta virus. It is spread by droppings and urine and the infects can be to make |
| 1:22.3 | people very ill with respiratory conditions or indeed renal problems with their kidneys. |
| 1:30.4 | The people on board are typically, it says, ocean-wide expeditions, the company, between |
| 1:37.7 | 45 and 65, the passengers affected were older than that, and ocean-wide expeditions, Dutch firms been going for 33 years now |
| 1:49.4 | based in the port of flushing. I've put various questions to them, including what is happening |
| 1:55.7 | to get people off the ship in Cape Verde, still waiting for an update there. |
| 2:02.5 | I have also switching topics being contacted by so many people who are desperate to know |
| 2:10.2 | whether their flight is going to be cancelled. |
| 2:13.5 | And this is arising from the news on Sunday, where Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, said, |
| 2:21.6 | we are going to protect your holiday. How are you going to do that? We're going to protect it by |
| 2:26.1 | allowing airlines to cancel flights. And people are saying, what? I don't get it. So let me try |
| 2:32.5 | to explain. It is complex, so please pay attention. |
... |
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