WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was to arrive in the Spanish island of Tenerife yesterday to help coordinate the evacuation of passengers hit by the hantavirus, the Spanish Ministry of Health sources said.
Ghebreyesus would accompany Spain’s health and interior ministers to a command post there “to ensure coordination between administrations, health control, and the application of the planned surveillance and response protocols,” the sources said.
Three passengers from the MV Hondius — a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman — have died, while others have fallen sick with the rare disease, which usually spreads among rodents.
Photo: AP
The only hantavirus strain that can transmit from person to person — Andes virus — has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fueling international concern.
The Dutch-flagged vessel, which has about 150 people on board, is to arrive at the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife today. Special flights would then take passengers to their home countries.
Earlier on Friday, the WHO said 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 said.
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,” he said.
The WHO said on Friday that there were six confirmed out of eight suspected cases of the virus so far.
There are no suspected cases remaining on the ship.