Hantavirus-hit cruise ship arrives in Canary Islands
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The stricken cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak has arrived near the Port of Granadilla in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, where it will anchor to allow the evacuation of the passengers and some of the crew.
The passengers, none of whom has displayed signs of infection, will be tested by Spanish health authorities to ensure they remain asymptomatic and then transported to land in small boats, according to Spanish officials.
Sealed-off buses will then take the passengers to the Spanish island’s main airport about 10 minutes away, where they will board planes heading to their respective countries.
All passengers on the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius are considered high-risk contacts as a precautionary measure, Europe’s public health agency said late on Saturday as part of its rapid scientific advice.
The evacuation is expected to begin at between 7:30am on Sunday local time (4:30pm AEST), according to Spanish authorities.
Spanish nationals are set to disembark first with other nationalities to follow in groups, government officials said on Saturday.
Thirty crew members will remain on board and sail to the Netherlands where the ship will be disinfected.
The ship left for Spain on Wednesday from the coast of Cape Verde after the World Health Organisation and European Union asked the country to manage the evacuation of passengers after the hantavirus outbreak was detected.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived on Saturday evening in Tenerife, alongside Spain’s interior and health ministers and its minister for territorial policy, to co-ordinate the arrival of the ship.
The WHO said on Friday that eight people had fallen ill, including three who died – a Dutch couple and a German national. Six of these people are confirmed to have contracted the virus, with another two suspected cases, the WHO has said.
Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents but can in rare cases be transmitted person-to-person. The WHO has said the risk to the wider global population is low, but the risk to passengers and crew on the ship is moderate.
The ship was carrying 147 passengers and crew when a cluster of severe respiratory illnesses among passengers was reported to the WHO on May 3.
By then, 34 other passengers had departed the vessel, including one of four Australians, according to media reports, which first sailed from Argentina in March with stops in the Antarctic and other locations before heading north to waters off Cape Verde west of Africa.
The vessel was briefly held there after news of the outbreak emerged.
Four patients remained in hospital on Friday in South Africa, the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Oceanwide, the cruise operator, said there were no people with symptoms of a possible infection remaining on the vessel.
with Reuters
Reuters