{"id":18033,"date":"2026-05-06T15:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/18033\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:17:13","slug":"canary-islands-leader-rejects-spains-decision-to-allow-mv-hondius-cruise-ship-to-dock-over-hantavirus-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/18033\/","title":{"rendered":"Canary Islands leader rejects Spain\u2019s decision to allow MV Hondius cruise ship to dock over hantavirus outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The infected MV Hondius cruise ship has been blocked from docking in the Canary Islands over the ongoing hantavirus outbreak, the region\u2019s president confirmed Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot allow it to enter the Canary Islands,\u201d Fernando Clavijo told local media outlet Onda Cero.<\/p>\n

Conservative politician Clavijo has blasted Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez \u2013 a socialist \u2013 over the decision to allow the ship to dock, claiming it was \u201cnot based on any technical criteria, \u200bnor is there sufficient \u2060information to reassure \u2060the public or guarantee their safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Investigators<\/p>\n

Investigators wearing white suits searching the deck of the infected MV Hondius. AP<\/p>\n

He has also accused the government of showing \u201cinstitutional disloyalty,\u201d claiming Madrid has not kept him informed and has called for an urgent meeting, OK Diario reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Madrid government said that, \u201cSpain has a moral and legal obligation to assist these people, among whom are also several Spanish citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe World Health Organization has explained that Cape Verde is unable to carry out this operation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Canary Islands are the closest location with the necessary capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The virus-ridden ship, which has about 150 crew and passengers on board, had been preparing to travel to the Canary Islands after being stranded in West African waters off Cape Verde.<\/p>\n

Authorities had refused to grant permission for the ship to dock over health concerns.<\/p>\n

The ship would have to travel for four days before reaching the Canary Islands.<\/p>\n

It had been expected to dock in either Tenerife or Gran Canaria, where those on board would be examined before being treated or repatriated back to their origin countries.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An ambulance boat is seen heading toward the liner. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Three people are confirmed to have died in the outbreak and at least five are sickened.<\/p>\n

Swiss authorities have since confirmed a passenger is being treated in a Zurich hospital for hantavirus.<\/p>\n

The traveler \u2014 only identified as a man \u2014 returned to the country last month and went to the doctors when he noticed symptoms.<\/p>\n

Hantavirus \u2013 the disease that killed Gene Hackman\u2019s wife Betsy Arakawa<\/a> \u2013 is usually spread through rodent droppings, but health officials say they were told no rodents were found<\/a> on board.<\/p>\n

But one strain, \u201cthe Andes virus,\u201d is alarming; it can be spread between people and carries a mortality rate of nearly 40%.<\/a><\/p>\n

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO\u2019s director for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told reporters Tuesday that \u201cwe do believe there may be some human-to-human transmission among very close contacts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Passengers on board the ship say they\u2019ve been reading and watching movies, trying to keep themselves occupied while out at sea.<\/p>\n

\"Photos<\/p>\n

Photos taken inside the ship show an empty lounge area. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cOur days have been close to normal, just waiting for authorities to find a solution,\u201d Qasem Elhato, 31, told the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut morale on the ship is high and we\u2019re keeping ourselves busy with reading, watching movies, having hot drinks and that kind of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elhato said passengers were wearing masks and practising social distancing \u2013 precautions taken during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Helene Goessaert, another passenger, said everyone is \u201cin the same boat, literally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe receive information at regular intervals. It is accurate. For the rest, it is a waiting game,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we received fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. That was very important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, experts have told<\/a> the Post that passengers could face up to eight weeks of quarantine.<\/p>\n

The ship left Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1.<\/p>\n

With Post wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The infected MV Hondius cruise ship has been blocked from docking in the Canary Islands over the ongoing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[647,9586,9704,205,17,1924],"class_list":{"0":"post-18033","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-canary-islands","9":"tag-cruise-ship","10":"tag-fernando-clavijo","11":"tag-pedro-sanchez","12":"tag-spain","13":"tag-world-health-organization"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}