The hantavirus-hit Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius is scheduled to arrive in Tenerife on Sunday, with passengers and some crew members beginning disembarkation from around 07:00 GMT, according to cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions. The company stated on Saturday that the ship is expected to dock at Granadilla, Tenerife, at 04:30 GMT, and those leaving the vessel will be transferred immediately to their allocated aircraft.
WHO involvement and risk assessment
World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is expected to help coordinate the evacuation operation off Tenerife. In an open letter to the people of Tenerife, he assured them that the risk from the virus-hit ship is low. “I need you to hear me clearly: this is not another Covid,” Ghebreyesus wrote, adding, “The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low.”
Disembarkation restrictions
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia Gomez stated that neither the luggage nor the body of the deceased person will be disembarked in the Canary Islands. “They will remain on board with part of the crew,” she said, as quoted by AFP. People from more than 20 nationalities are currently on board the ship.
Current health status and outbreak details
The World Health Organisation, Spanish authorities, and Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed on Saturday that no one currently aboard the vessel is showing symptoms of the virus. Since the outbreak began, three passengers—a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman—have died. Additionally, five passengers who had already left the ship were later confirmed to be infected with hantavirus.
Virus strain and transmission
Health authorities confirmed that the Andes virus, the only hantavirus strain known to spread from person to person in rare cases, has been detected among infected passengers, fuelling international concern. Hantavirus is usually spread through inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings, and symptoms can appear between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Contact tracing concerns
Dutch officials and the ship’s operator reported that on April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 countries left the ship without contact tracing. Health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a passenger on May 2.
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