Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Reassures Tenerife Residents as MV Hondius Arrives With Hantavirus

The World Health Organization director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus published a letter to Tenerife residents to reassure them ahead of the early Sunday arrival of the 'MV Hondius' at the port of Granadilla, after a hantavirus outbreak that has killed three passengers and left six cases confirmed related to the trip.

“Based on facts observed and directly verified by our journalists or by informed sources”

20Minutos

Tedros told residents, "Necesito que me escuchen con claridad," and said the situation is not another COVID-19, adding that the risk for public health in Tenerife continues to be low.

20Minutos

The WHO said Spain’s plan includes passengers disembarking away from residential areas and being moved in vehicles sealed and under sanitary and police control to points for repatriation.

The letter also says the corridor established for the operation will remain cordoned off to avoid contact with the local population, and it frames the request to Spain under the Reglamento Sanitario Internacional.

In the same letter, Tedros said he intends to travel personally to Tenerife to follow the operation firsthand and thanked the collaboration of the Government of Spain and Pedro Sánchez for accepting the arrangement.

As the 'MV Hondius' approaches Tenerife, the operation described by 20Minutos centers on anchoring off Granadilla without docking and moving passengers in isolated transfers to Tenerife Sur airport.

20Minutos says the ship will anchor "inside the port" at a location to be determined by the Port Authority and that a Zodiac-type mother ship will shuttle passengers in groups of about five to the port’s quay.

Al Jazeera

The protocol details cited by 20Minutos say passengers will not leave the ship "until the planes that will take them to their countries of origin have arrived," and that the journey will take place through areas "completely isolated from the civilian population and fenced off".

The same account says an Exterior Health team will conduct a medical exam before disembarkation to verify passengers remain hantavirus-free and that evacuees will carry only a small sealed carry-on bag with essentials including documents and a mobile phone.

It also reports that Health Minister Mónica García confirmed that both passengers and crew and operational staff will be provided with FFP2 masks, while logistics and medical teams will wear PPE during transfers.

While WHO officials urged calm, residents protested the impending arrival of the 'MV Hondius' and the Spanish government’s decision to allow the ship to anchor offshore rather than dock.

“Spain readies for evacuations as a hantavirus-hit cruise ship heads for the Canary Islands Spain readies for evacuations as a hantavirus-hit cruise ship heads for the Canary Islands MADRID (AP) — Spanish authorities on Friday were preparing to receive more than 140 passengers and crew members on board a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship headed for the Canary Islands, where health officials have said they will perform careful evacuations”

AP News

NBC News reported that local residents chanted, "Yes to tourism, no to the virus," as the operation prepared to move passengers and crew from the anchored ship to the Granadilla port and then directly to repatriation flights.

In parallel, The Guardian said UK passengers on board would be flown to Merseyside on Sunday for hospital quarantine at Arrowe Park hospital in Wirral, and it said all 146 passengers would be screened for the infection in Tenerife on Sunday morning before being transferred home.

The Guardian also described Tedros’s reassurance that the risk is low, quoting his message: "But I need you to hear me clearly: this is not another Covid."

NBC News added that Spanish citizens were expected to disembark first under maximum safety conditions, with all passengers wearing FFP2 masks, and it said the WHO’s Maria Van Kerkhove described continued health screenings and transfer of symptomatic people to the Netherlands for treatment.