Spanish authorities are preparing to receive more than 140 passengers and crew onboard a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship headed for the Canary Islands, where health officials say they will perform careful evacuations.
The vessel is expected to arrive on Sunday at the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa. Both the US and the UK have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens from the cruise ship.
Various health bodies around the world have been making sure that people are aware of the processes going into tracing and tracking people linked to the cruise ship.
There have been six confirmed cases of hantavirus linked to the ship, and all six have been confirmed as Andes virus, a type of hantavirus.
Spain said health officials were monitoring a person who was isolating after reporting symptoms.
A Dutch flight attendant tested negative after she was suspected of infection.
Three people have died since the vessel departed Argentina last month, while others have been evacuated from the ship for medical treatment. But it’s important to note that not all deaths have been confirmed as cases of hantavirus infection.
Four patients remain hospitalised in South Africa, the Netherlands and Switzerland, while a suspected case sent to Germany tested negative.
The WHO insisted on Friday that the hantavirus outbreak posed a minimal risk to the general public.
“This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who’s really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told reporters.
A picture was emerging from MV Hondius where “even those who have been sharing cabins don’t seem to be both infected in some cases”, when one has fallen sick, he added.
“The virus is not that contagious that it easily jumps from person to person,” Lindmeier said.
The WHO said Friday there were five confirmed and three suspected cases of the virus. No suspected cases are remaining on the ship.
Spanish ministry sources said Friday that World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will be on the ground in Tenerife on Saturday “to ensure coordination between administrations, health control, and the application of the planned surveillance and response protocols”.