WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Oversees Hondius Hantavirus Evacuation in Tenerife

The MV Hondius, a Dutch-flagged cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak, was heading for Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands to disembark 140 passengers and crew after weeks stranded at sea.

“A cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak is heading for Tenerife in the Canary Islands to disembark 140 passengers and crew after weeks stranded at sea”

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera reported that at least eight people fell ill on board the Hondius, and that three people have died while five passengers who left the ship are known to be infected with hantavirus.

Al Jazeera

The Associated Press said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sought to reassure residents of Tenerife, telling them the virus was “not another COVID.”

AP also reported that the WHO, Spanish authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said nobody on the Hondius is currently showing symptoms of the virus, as the ship was expected to arrive early Sunday.

At a media briefing on Saturday afternoon, Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s head of pandemic preparedness, said the ship’s passengers would be transported in small boats to shore before being screened, with symptomatic patients transferred to the Netherlands for treatment.

The Associated Press quoted Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus telling Tenerife residents, “I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID.”

Al-Jazeera Net

On Tenerife, AP reported that 69-year-old resident Simon Vidal said, “I tell you, I don’t like this very much,” and questioned why the boat had to arrive in the Canary Islands.

AP also quoted 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Samantha Aguero saying, “We feel a bit unsafe, we don’t feel as there are 100% security measures in place to welcome it,” while adding that they still needed “empathy.”

As the ship approached Tenerife, USA Today said the ship was set to arrive at the port of Granadilla, Tenerife, early in the morning on May 10, and that after docking a small boat would bring passengers in groups for medical screening.

“WHO head seeks to reassure residents of Spanish island where hantavirus-stricken ship is headed WHO head seeks to reassure residents of Spanish island where hantavirus-stricken ship is headed TENERIFE, Spain (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization sought Saturday to reassure residents of the Spanish island where passengers of a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship are expected to be evacuated, issuing them a direct message that the virus was “not another COVID”

AP News

USA Today reported that the evacuation must take place between Sunday midday local time and around the same time Monday before conditions at sea are expected to become stormier for the rest of the month.

NBC News said 17 American passengers aboard the Honduran outbreak cruise ship would quarantine at the National Quarantine Unit on the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus in Omaha, and that Dr. Michael Wadman said the unit would assess them and determine any necessary quarantine measures.

NBC News also quoted Dr. Angela Hewlett emphasizing that the current outbreak is not at Covid levels, saying, “I do not see this as progressing to a worldwide pandemic.”