WHO chief reassures Tenerife residents as hantavirus-hit cruise ship nears Canary Islands

Alsharq Tribune-AFP 

World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday reassured residents on the Spanish island of Tenerife that the public health risk remained low as the cruise ship MV Hondius approached the Canary Islands following a hantavirus outbreak onboard.

The vessel, carrying 147 people, is expected to arrive between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. local time Sunday (0300-0500 GMT). Three passengers have died and five others have been confirmed infected since the outbreak emerged after the ship departed from Cape Verde.

In an open letter to Canary Islands residents, Tedros acknowledged local concerns but stressed, "This is not another COVID."

"The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low," he said, adding that WHO experts and medical supplies were already onboard the vessel.

"All passengers are asymptomatic," Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said on the night, describing the operation involving 23 countries as "unprecedented."

Spanish authorities said passengers would disembark at the industrial port of Granadilla before being transferred in sealed vehicles directly to airports for repatriation and quarantine in their home countries.

The 14 Spanish passengers aboard will be transferred to military facilities near Madrid before quarantine at Hospital Gomez Ulla.

Meanwhile, a woman hospitalized in Alicante after contact with one of the deceased passengers tested negative for hantavirus on Saturday, according to Spanish health authorities.