Explainer
Spain agreed to receive the ship from cruise ship MV Hondius, affected by a hantavirus outbreak, which is expected to arrive in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, from the early hours of Saturday to Sunday. Passengers will be removed from the vessel and transported directly to the airport runway, Spanish authorities announced at a press conference. Even so, Spain created a special isolation unit.
The cruise where cases of hantavirus were recorded left Cape Verde on Wednesday towards Tenerife.
With dozens of people on board, it was scheduled to arrive on the Spanish island on Sundayaround noon local time. However, according to the general secretary of Spanish civil protection, Virginia Barcones, You may arrive earlier – during the early hours of the morning – as you are “in good shape”.
The World Health Organization considered that the port of Granadilla was the closest with technical conditions for disembarkation and repatriation safely.
Although none of the passengers on board showed symptoms of hantavirus, the vessel will not dockit will just be in front of the port, which is in the south of the island.
Passengers will be taken directly from the cruise to speedboats.
Once on land, they will be transported in buses, made available by a company from the Netherlands, directly to the airport runway, which is about 10 minutes away, where will board their respective planes. In this process, drivers and emergency teams will have to wear protective equipment.
Initially, the objective was to repatriate all the people on the boat from Tenerife, but in the end they must there are at least 30 crew members on the boatwho will continue their journey on the “MV Hondius” to the Netherlands.
or package it went out from Ushuaia, Argentina, with 149 people on board from 23 nationalities. Three people have died and there are at least five more confirmed cases.
Passengers transported to their country of origin by plane
The majority of passengers are from the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Spain, the United States and the Netherlands.
The Spanish Government has not yet closed the ‘range’ of countries that will send planes to Tenerife to repatriate their respective citizens. But the the United Kingdom, France and Germany have already confirmed that they will do so.
The Spaniards on board will also be transferred by plane to a military hospital in Madrid.
Three people died from hantavirus. The body of one of them remains on board. The removal of the cruise is the responsibility of the Netherlands.
Although passengers are transported by air to their respective countries, the local government created a special isolation unit in a hospital as a contingency measure. Only people with urgent medical needsexplains the Minister of Health, Monica Garcia, in an interview with public radio RNE. However, this need will be unlikely, as no person has symptoms.
The ship will then continue its journey to the Netherlands. Authorities still do not know whether it will be disinfected on Spanish territory.
“It will be done at the time and place considered most appropriate. What we can guarantee is that it will be done without any health risks”, guarantees the Secretary of State for Health.
Are ongoing detailed investigations to determine the origin of the outbreak.
