The head of the World Health Organization arrived in Spain on Saturday to personally oversee the arrival of a cruise ship MV Hondius, directly addressing worried residents of the Spanish island of Tenerife with a clear message: do not panic.
“This is not another COVID,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement addressed to Tenerife residents. “The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now.”
The Ship and Its Passengers
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, carrying more than 140 people, is making its way to the Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa. It is expected to reach Tenerife on Sunday around 5:30 a.m. local time, with guests and some crew members set to disembark around 8 a.m.
Tedros said he was in direct contact with the ship’s captain and a WHO colleague on board, both of whom confirmed that no additional passengers or crew were showing symptoms of hantavirus at this stage.
Residents Are Nervous
Not everyone on the island is welcoming the ship’s arrival. Some Tenerife residents have expressed concern about the virus spreading once passengers step ashore. Meanwhile, Spanish passengers on board have been anxious about how they will be received on land.
Tedros acknowledged those fears head-on, drawing a direct line to the trauma of the COVID pandemic.
“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest,” he said. “The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment.”
How the Disembarkation Will Work
Spanish Health Minister Mónica Garcia laid out the plan at a news conference in Madrid on Saturday, stressing that every precaution was being taken.
The ship will not dock at the port. Instead it will remain anchored offshore. Every person leaving the vessel will be checked for symptoms before they are allowed off. Crucially, no one will be taken off the ship until a flight is already waiting at Tenerife’s airport to fly them off the island directly. Passengers represent more than 20 different nationalities.
WHO and Spanish authorities aim to complete all evacuation flights by Sunday and Monday, according to Maria Van Kerkove, director of WHO’s Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Management.
What We Know About the Outbreak
Three people have died since the hantavirus outbreak began, and five passengers who left the ship before it was flagged have since tested positive for the virus.
Hantavirus is typically spread through the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and does not pass easily between people. However, the specific strain detected on the MV Hondius, known as the Andes virus, may in rare cases be capable of person-to-person transmission. Symptoms can appear anywhere between one and eight weeks after exposure.
WHO, Spanish health authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions all confirmed Saturday that nobody currently aboard the ship is displaying symptoms.
