World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus landed in Spain on Saturday to take personal charge of a high-stakes evacuation involving more than 140 people trapped on a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship.
The vessel, the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, is currently steaming toward the Canary Islands and is expected to dock in Tenerife early Sunday morning.
Accompanied by Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Tedros confirmed he is heading to the island to oversee the safe disembarkation of all passengers, crew, and medical experts.
While three people have already died and five others are confirmed infected, Tedros noted that no one currently remaining on the ship is showing symptoms. He took to X to reassure the public that the global risk remains low and that the situation is being actively monitored.
READ: CDC Triggers Emergency Response As Hantavirus Cruise Nears Spain
The logistics of the arrival are being treated with extreme caution. Virginia Barcones, head of Spain’s emergency services, stated that once the ship docks, passengers will be moved immediately to a “completely isolated, cordoned-off area.”
MV Hondius (https://reefandrainforest.co.uk/)
To prepare for any medical emergencies, Spain has activated the EU civil protection mechanism. This ensures a specialized medical evacuation plane, designed for high-consequence infectious diseases, is on standby to ferry any ill individuals to the European mainland for treatment.
Hantavirus is typically contracted through the inhalation of dust contaminated by rodent droppings and rarely spreads between humans. However, this specific outbreak involves the Andes virus strain, which has shown a rare capacity for person-to-person transmission.
Because symptoms can take anywhere from one to eight weeks to appear, the Dutch government has mandated a strict six-week home quarantine for all returning passengers who are currently asymptomatic.
The crisis has triggered a global scramble to track down over two dozen travelers who left the ship before the outbreak was officially detected on May 2. These individuals have since scattered across four continents.
READ: New Jersey Monitors Two Residents For Hantavirus Exposure After Overseas Flight
Concerns were briefly heightened when a KLM flight attendant fell ill after working a flight that carried an infected passenger from Johannesburg to Amsterdam. However, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier confirmed Friday that the attendant tested negative, emphasizing that the virus is “not a new COVID.”
The international reach of the outbreak continues to grow. Two British nationals are currently hospitalized in the Netherlands and South Africa, while a third Briton is suspected of being infected on the remote island of Tristan da Cunha.
In Spain, health officials in Alicante are testing a woman who developed symptoms after sharing a flight with a Dutch passenger who later died in South Africa. Meanwhile, authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom have already committed to sending specialized aircraft to Tenerife to repatriate their citizens as the quarantine period begins.
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Deadly Cruise Crisis: WHO Chief Rushes To Spain As Hantavirus Ship Approaches Canary Islands