The MV Hondius, a Dutch-flagged cruise ship at the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak that killed three passengers, arrived at Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday. Nearly 150 passengers and select crew members are set to be evacuated and flown to their home countries after weeks stranded at sea.
The vessel reached the port of Granadilla de Abona, Tenerife, escorted by a Spanish Civil Guard ship, according to AFP journalists on the scene and maritime tracking data from VesselFinder.
The outbreak has claimed the lives of three passengers: a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman. The World Health Organization confirmed Friday that six of eight suspected cases tested positive for hantavirus, a rare disease typically spread among rodents.
Of particular concern to health authorities is the strain involved. The Andes virus, the only known hantavirus type capable of person-to-person transmission, has been confirmed among those infected, heightening international alarm.
WHO epidemic and pandemic preparedness director Maria Van Kerkhove said Saturday that the organization classifies everyone on board as a high-risk contact, though she stressed the risk to the general public and residents of the Canary Islands remains low.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus traveled to Spain on Saturday to oversee the evacuation. In an open letter to the people of Tenerife, he sought to calm fears, writing that the situation should not be compared to the COVID-19 pandemic.
After arriving, Tedros expressed confidence the operation would succeed, praising Spain's readiness and thanking the Tenerife community for their solidarity.
On the ground in Granadilla de Abona, daily life appeared largely undisturbed Sunday morning. Residents were seen swimming, shopping at markets, and sitting at café terraces despite the ship's arrival. White medical tents lined the quay and police secured part of the port, but locals showed little visible concern.
Spanish health and interior officials emphasized that evacuated passengers would have no contact with the local population. Passengers will leave the ship in nationality-based groups, all transit areas will be sealed off, and a maritime exclusion zone will be enforced around the vessel.
Regional authorities refused to allow the ship to dock. Instead, passengers will be screened and transferred to shore between Sunday and Monday, the only window weather conditions allow, before being moved directly to designated aircraft.
Cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions confirmed passengers and a limited number of crew members were expected to begin disembarking around 0700 GMT Sunday, with immediate transfer to their flights.
The MV Hondius departed Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 for a transatlantic cruise to Cape Verde. Three infected individuals had already been evacuated from the ship in Cape Verde earlier in the week before the vessel continued toward Europe.
Provincial health official Juan Petrina said the Dutch man linked to the outbreak's origin had an almost zero chance of contracting the disease in Ushuaia, based on the virus's incubation period and other epidemiological factors.
Health authorities across multiple countries are tracing passengers who disembarked earlier in the voyage, as well as anyone who may have had secondary contact with infected individuals.
A KLM flight attendant who came into contact with an infected passenger and later developed mild symptoms tested negative for hantavirus, the WHO confirmed Friday. The passenger, the wife of the first person to die in the outbreak, had briefly boarded a Johannesburg-to-Netherlands flight on April 25 before being removed prior to takeoff. She died the following day in a Johannesburg hospital.
Spanish health authorities reported that a woman who had been on that same flight was being tested for hantavirus after developing symptoms at her home in eastern Spain. She is currently in isolation at a hospital.
Two Singapore residents who had been aboard the MV Hondius tested negative but remain in quarantine. British health authorities also disclosed a suspected case on Tristan da Cunha, one of the most remote inhabited settlements in the world, home to roughly 220 people.
The ship is expected to continue its journey to the Netherlands after the evacuation is complete.
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