Guardia Civil Officer Dies During MV Hondius Disembarkation in Tenerife

A 62-year-old Guardia Civil officer died of a heart attack during the disembarkation operation at the port of Granadilla de Abona on Tenerife while participating in the passenger offloading from the MV Hondius, according to Agencia EFE as cited by Infobae.

Infobae said the officer was treated by medical teams deployed at the dock for 40 minutes but they did not manage to save his life.

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The BBC reported that 17 American passengers from the virus-hit cruise ship docked in Spain's Canary Islands returned to the US to be evaluated at a quarantine facility, with one passenger testing positive and another having "mild symptoms".

The BBC added that the group would be screened at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, and that the acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Jay Bhattacharya, said officials in Nebraska would first "assess them for risk" to the public.

The BBC said the passengers would only be considered a threat to public health if they were in close contact with someone experiencing hantavirus symptoms, describing that as the only way the virus can spread between people.

Jay Bhattacharya told CNN, as quoted by the BBC, "If they weren't in close contact with someone who was symptomatic, then we're going to deem them a low risk," and he added that close contact would mean "medium or high risk."

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In Spain’s Canary Islands, Al Jazeera reported that passengers from the Hondius were flown home on military and government aircraft after the vessel arrived in Tenerife, and it said three people died in the outbreak on board the Hondius since it left South America on April 1.

Al Jazeera also said the WHO estimated there are 10,000 to 100,000 hantavirus infections annually, and it quoted WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus writing in an open letter: "This is not another COVID."

The BBC reported that HHS said the group would be taken to a regional emerging special pathogen (RESPTC) treatment centre in Omaha, and that the passenger with mild symptoms would be taken to a separate RESPTC.

The BBC said the Nebraska Medical Center contains the National Quarantine Unit (NQU), described as the only federally-funded quarantine unit in the US, and it said the 20-bed facility opened in November 2019.

In parallel, France 24 reported that at least 94 of the nearly 150 passengers and crew were evacuated on Sunday, May 10 on flights departing from Tenerife bound for the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United States.

France 24 added that the WHO designated all people on board from 19 nationalities as high-risk contacts requiring medical supervision for at least 42 days, and it said the final destination for the ship would be Rotterdam in the Netherlands for a disinfection process.