The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has published a letter addressed to the population of Tenerife in which he calls for calm regarding the arrival of the cruise ship MV Hondius, the vessel carrying nearly 150 passengers from 23 countries after several cases of hantavirus were reported on board, with three deaths. Tedros emphasizes that the public health risk to the island is low, that there are currently no passengers with symptoms, and details the strict measures planned for disembarkation: transfer in sealed vehicles from the Granadilla industrial port and direct repatriation to the countries of origin, without contact with the local population. The Director-General also defends Spain’s decision to host the ship as “an act of solidarity and moral duty” and announces that he will personally travel to the island to oversee the operation firsthand.

In just 24 hours, Spain faces a complex international operation from the island of Tenerife to evacuate with all health guarantees the occupants of the cruise ship MV Hondius, affected by a hantavirus outbreak and carrying 14 Spaniards who will be quarantined at the Gómez Ulla Hospital in Madrid.

A woman, considered the first contact in Catalonia of a fatal victim of the ‘Hondius’ hantavirus, will remain in quarantine at the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona for between three and six weeks. She is a resident of Barcelona who coincided for a few minutes, on April 25, on the plane covering the Johannesburg-Amsterdam route with the cruise passenger who ended up dying in the South African capital. She is around 40 years old, sources from the Departament de Salut told this newspaper.

Everything is ready to carry out the repatriation of the passengers of the cruise ship ‘Hondius’ to 23 countries from Tenerife. This was assured by the Ministers of Health, Mónica García, and Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who reported that the ship’s arrival will be between 4 and 6 a.m. tomorrow Sunday (Canary Islands time). The first to be repatriated will be the 14 Spaniards and the WHO representative in Africa, who will also undergo quarantine at the Gómez Ulla hospital in Madrid, as he is considered a contact.

The Spanish Minister of Health, Mónica García, and the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, hold a press conference before the arrival on the island of Tenerife of the cruise ship affected by the hantavirus.