Hantavirus on the cruise: disembarkation by nationality has begun – which will last more than 24 hours

WHO director went to Tenerife and repeated that this outbreak is not like COVID-19. Portuguese will go to the Netherlands.

The MV cruise Hondius, who was affected with one, reached Tenerife early this Sunday morning.

No passengers have symptomsaccording to medical teams. Thus, the order was given to start the landing of all passengers.

Disembarkation will be done slowly, with precautions, in groups of 5 people, and will be done by nationalities.

The first were the 14 Spanish, who have already left the vessel. 8 went on a bus towards the airport; the other 6 still stayed in a tent, supervised by health authorities.

All the 10 planes that will transport passengers to their countries of origin.

All passengers are considered “high risk contacts”so they will be accompanied over the next 42 dias.

This operation in the Canary Islands, which involves the transport of 104 peopleit will only end in Monday in the afternoon, said the Spanish Government – ​​despite the protest of the Government of the Canaries, which wanted a faster operation (and initially refused the arrival of the ship, for fear of danger to public health).

Precisely to calm, once again, these fears, the director general of the World Health Organization (OMS), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, went to Tenerife to monitor this unprecedented operation.

It was already in Spain that he repeated: “This is not COVID. We have said it many times. And we don’t say that lightly. THE risk for the local population is low. Because of the nature of the virus itself and because the Spanish Government did everything it could to prevent any problems.”

“I came here to be on the people’s side. Saying things from afar is easy, but I changed my plan to be here”, he added.

There were 147 people on the ship. And there they go continue, for now, the 43 crew memberswho then head to the Netherlands on Monday. Among these members is a Portuguese citizen, who will also travel to the Netherlands. You will not travel directly from Spain to Portugal.

According to the WHO, there have been 6 confirmed cases of hantavirus linked to cruising; 3 people died.