‘Not another Covid’: Hantavirus ship docks at Tenerife | World | News

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, arrived on the island of Tenerife on Saturday to help calm locals ahead of the ship’s arrival and to help coordinate disembarkation efforts.

Tedros made a direct statement to the people of Tenerife to reassure them that despite lingering fears from the 2020 pandemic, “this is not another Covid” and that the risk of contracting hantavirus is still very low from a public health perspective.

Hantavirus can cause serious illness and is usually transmitted through inhalation of contaminated rodent debris, making transmission between humans difficult. However, the specific Andes virus detected in this outbreak can spread from person to person in rare cases.

A Dutch-flagged cruise ship that spent last week in exile at sea due to the deadly hantavirus outbreak has officially docked in Spain, more than a week after authorities were first alerted to a medical emergency on board.

MV Hondius, with more than 140 passengers and crew on board, was directed to the Canary Islands by European health authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO) after it did not dock in the Cape Verde Islands.

The outbreak has caused three deaths so far, and five passengers who had previously abandoned the ship were found to have contracted hantavirus. However, WHO, Spanish authorities and cruise line Oceanwide Expeditions have confirmed that no one currently on board Hondius is showing symptoms of the virus.

Symptoms usually appear one to eight weeks after exposure.

Regarding the next steps, the Dutch foreign and health ministers informed the parliament that Spain has activated the European Union’s civil protection mechanism.

This action ensures that a medical evacuation aircraft prepared for infectious diseases is ready to transport any newly ill persons on board to mainland Europe.

The letter also stated that the Dutch government will cooperate with the Spanish authorities and the cruise company to organize the repatriation of Dutch passengers and crew from Tenerife as quickly as medical conditions and recommendations of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control allow.

Those without symptoms will be required to enter a six-week home quarantine under the supervision of local health services.