Hantavirus ship to dock at canary island as number of confirmed circumstances……
Garcia revealed that health officers had been speaking with the president and other leaders of the Canary Islands (Image: ELTON MONTEIRO/EPA/Shutterstock)
The Spanish Health Minister has confirmed that the posh cruise ship affected by a lethal hantavirus outbreak will dock at the Canary Islands.
Health Minister Monica Garcia gave the update during a press convention on Wednesday, saying that the MV Hondius is en route to the Granadilla port in Tenerife, where all passengers will probably be evacuated.
Garcia revealed that health officers had been speaking with the president and other leaders of the Canary Islands.
The announcement adopted vocal pushback from the Canary Islands’ chief, Fernando Clavijo, who opposed the ship’s docking in Tenerife.
Clavijo told reporters Wednesday that the three-day-long journey from Cape Verde to the Canary Islands “does not make sense”.
Health employees in protecting gear arrive to evacuate sufferers from the MV Hondius cruise ship at a port in Praia, Cape Verde, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu) (Image: AP)
“If the passengers are safe and healthy, it does not make sense that they have to come to the Canary Islands to be repatriated; they could do that from the international airport of Cape Verde,” he said.
“If we’re thinking about the general interest of the passengers, what makes sense is to start doing this now.”
Garcia said during the press convention that all passengers remaining on the ship are presently displaying no symptoms of the virus and will probably be evacuated once the ship docks in Tenerife. Garcia pressured that the passengers introduced “no risk” to residents of the Canary Islands and that the protocol would “avoid contact” with them.
Spanish nationals will bear quarantine at a army base in Madrid, while asymptomatic people from other nations will probably be repatriated. Among those aboard the vessel are 14 Spanish residents.
Furthermore, Garcia shared an update about a British national, 56, recognized as the ship’s doctor, who was airlifted to the Netherlands for medical care along with two others suspected of being contaminated with the lethal rodent-borne virus. Garcia confirmed that the doctor’s condition has improved from “critical” to “stable.”
The cruise ship’s operator, Oceanwide, said that two of the three sufferers transported to the Netherlands are “symptomatic” and in “serious condition.”
The British doctor is presently asymptomatic and was “closely associated” with the German citizen who died aboard the vessel on May 2, according to Oceanwide.
The World Health Organization reported that eight suspected circumstances of hantavirus have been linked to the vessel. Global health officers consider the suspected outbreak could also be spreading among passengers – an extraordinarily uncommon incidence since human-to-human transmission is rare.
On Wednesday, the WHO confirmed hantavirus circumstances from cruise ship has risen to 5, including 2 passengers evacuated Wednesday.
On Wednesday, South Africa’s health ministry also verified that the 2 passengers examined within the nation have the Andes pressure of the virus, which, while uncommon, has been documented to unfold between people.
Swiss authorities confirmed one particular person is receiving treatment in Zurich.
The World Health Organization’s director common posted a assertion to X indicating that at this level, the general public health risk stays low. To date, a Dutch passenger died aboard the ship on April 11, adopted by the death of the first affected person’s spouse on April 27, with officers confirming a pressure of hantavirus. A German passenger then died on May 2, although the trigger has not been confirmed.
After evacuating three people, a complete of 146 people from 23 international locations stay aboard the ship.
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