Residents of Tenerife took to the streets on Friday to protest the impending arrival of a cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak, as Spanish authorities prepared to receive more than 140 passengers and crew members. Health officials have stated they will conduct careful evacuations once the MV Hondius docks on the island, planning to transport passengers to a 'completely isolated, cordoned-off area.' However, dozens of locals and port workers gathered outside the Canary Islands' parliament building in Tenerife, holding placards, blowing whistles, and chanting slogans demanding more information ahead of the ship's arrival.
Port Workers Express Concerns
Speaking to the BBC, port worker Joana Batista expressed dissatisfaction: 'We're unhappy at the idea of being allowed to work in a port without special safety measures or information when an infected boat is approaching.' She added, 'If the boat is going to stop here, then it can do so, but with the necessary measures in place. Local people need to be told how this will affect them, how the passengers will be transported. We need reassurance above all.' Some demonstrators have even threatened to block the arrival of the cruise ship if their demands are not met.
Political Opposition to Docking
The anger follows comments from the president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, who expressed opposition to allowing the cruise ship to dock in Tenerife, stating that the decision was not based on 'any technical criteria.' He added that there is 'insufficient information to maintain a message of calm and guarantee the safety of the Canary Island population.' Clavijo also criticised the Spanish government for 'institutional disloyalty' and lack of professionalism for failing to keep him informed. He reproached the Minister of Health, Mónica García, for not providing explanations about the criteria followed by the WHO. 'I cannot allow it to enter the Canary Islands,' he insisted.
Outbreak Details and International Response
Three people have died since the outbreak, and six passengers who left the ship are known to be infected with hantavirus. Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions stated on Friday that there were no people with symptoms of a possible infection on board the Dutch-flagged MV Hondius. The World Health Organization considers the risk to the wider public from the outbreak as low. Both the US and the UK have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens from the cruise ship. Some 22 British passengers and crew will be greeted by officials from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and Foreign Office when the ship docks in the Canary Islands on Sunday and will be tested for hantavirus.
Evacuation Plans
If those tested are negative and not displaying any symptoms, they will be escorted to a dedicated repatriation flight, with the hope they will be flown back to Britain later in the day. Spain says officials are in advanced talks with the British government to send the flight, which will have medical professionals aboard and medications and equipment in case anyone falls ill. Depending on weather conditions, the ship is on course to dock in Tenerife tomorrow as it sets sail from the coast off Cape Verde. The majority of Britons aboard the ship are expected to self-isolate at home; however, the UKHSA will make arrangements for those who cannot to stay at alternative facilities. Details will be released at a later date. A total of 30 passengers and crew from the MV Hondius are British, according to the Foreign Office, with 22 of those still on the ship.
WHO Reassures Public
On Friday, the WHO announced that a flight attendant on a plane briefly boarded by an infected cruise passenger has tested negative for hantavirus. Her possible infection had raised concerns about the virus's potential transmissibility. The flight attendant's negative result should ease concerns among the public, said Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesman. 'The risk remains absolutely low,' he said. 'This is not a new COVID.' Hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and is not easily transmitted between people. However, the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Contact Tracing Efforts
Health authorities across four continents are tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked the ship before the deadly outbreak was detected. They are also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them. In interviews with The Associated Press, two Spanish passengers, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fears of ostracisation, said that despite the outbreak, their days aboard have passed with relative tranquillity. Some people are bird-watching, and others are gathering in common areas to read or attend talks, while wearing masks and social distancing. Both passengers told AP they are worried about how they will be treated in Spain and once home. 'We're scared by all the news that's coming out, by how people are going to receive us, by how people see us,' one said. 'We're just normal people. We've heard that this is a millionaire's cruise, and it's the complete opposite of reality. And we're scared by this.'
Safety Measures for Evacuation
Officials sought to reassure the public in the Canary Islands about possible exposure to the virus among the general population. Once the ship reaches Tenerife, passengers will be evacuated in small boats to buses only after their repatriation flights are ready to take them, Spanish officials said on Friday. Passengers will be transported in isolated and guarded vehicles, and the parts of the airport they travel through will be cordoned off. On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship's operator said on Thursday. It was not until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a ship passenger, the WHO said.
Further Developments
The KLM flight attendant who tested negative for the virus was working on a flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25 and had later fallen ill. The cruise passenger briefly aboard that flight, a Dutch woman whose husband died on the ship, was too ill to stay on the international flight to Europe and was taken off the plane in Johannesburg, where she died. The Dutch public health service is undertaking contact tracing on passengers who had contact with the ill woman before she left the plane. On Friday, UK health authorities said a third British national who had been a passenger on the ship is suspected of being infected with hantavirus. The UK Health Security Agency said the person is on the island of Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory in the south Atlantic, where the ship stopped in April. There was no word on the condition of the person. Spanish health officials said on Friday that a woman in the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante has symptoms consistent with a hantavirus infection and is being tested. She was a passenger on the same flight as the Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg after travelling on the cruise ship, Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla told reporters.
International Coordination
Two other Britons who were on the ship have been confirmed to have the virus. One is hospitalised in the Netherlands and the other in South Africa. Authorities in South Africa are working to trace contacts of any passengers who previously got off the ship. They have focused mainly on an April 25 flight from the remote island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic to Johannesburg, the day after some passengers disembarked. Some state officials across the US said they are monitoring a small number of residents who were on the ship and have already gone home, as well as people who may have come into contact with ship passengers. None has symptoms. The US agreed to send a plane to repatriate about 17 Americans who are still on the ship. Those passengers will be quarantined at the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Centre and Nebraska Medicine, the hospital said Friday, but none have presented symptoms. Doctors will determine how long the quarantine will last after assessing the passengers. The dedicated biocontainment and quarantine unit in Omaha was previously used to treat Ebola patients and some of the first COVID-19 patients. Nebraska Medicine is one of a handful of hospitals in the US with specialised treatment units for people with highly dangerous infectious diseases. 'We are prepared for situations exactly like this,' Dr Michael Ash, CEO of Nebraska Medicine, said in a statement. The British government said it will charter a plane to evacuate the nearly two dozen British nationals on board.
