A cruise ship is set to reach Spain’s Canary Islands on Sunday amid a hantavirus outbreak onboard, as authorities brace to evacuate 140 passengers and crew who were stranded in the sea for weeks.<\/p>\n
At least eight people on board fell ill, and the the Dutch-flagged vessel is set to arrive at the Spanish island of Tenerife in West Africa coast, AP reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Spanish health officials said they will perform evacuations carefully. Virginia Barcones, the head of Spain’s emergency services, said the passengers will be taken to a “completely isolated, cordoned-off area.”<\/p>\n The United States and the United Kingdom plan to send planes to evacuate their citizens from the cruise ship.<\/p>\n The cruise operator, Oceanwide Expeditions, said Friday none of the passengers onboard have symptoms of a possible infection. At least three people have died since the outbreak and five passengers who left the vessel have reportedly contracted the virus.<\/p>\n The Hantavirus is a rodent-borne infection which is rarely transmitted from person to person. The World Health Organization says the risk of a spread is low because the virus can’t easily be passed between people.<\/p>\n World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is expected to coordinate the evacuation of the passengers and the crew from the vessel, AFP reported<\/a> quoting Spanish officials.<\/p>\n “I am in direct communication with captain Jan Dobrogowski and [WHO] colleague on board Dr Freddy Banza-Mutoka,” Tedros said in a post on X.<\/p>\n To the people of Tenerife,<\/p>\n My name is Tedros, and I serve as the Director-General of the @WHO<\/a>, the @UN<\/a> agency responsible for global public health. It is not common for me to write directly to the people of a single community, but today I feel it is not only appropriate, it is… pic.twitter.com\/lx05ji4a79<\/a><\/p>\n