Spanish authorities are making extensive preparations to receive a cruise ship carrying over 140 passengers and crew, which is currently en route to the Canary Islands after an outbreak of hantavirus on board. Health officials have confirmed that careful, isolated evacuations will be carried out upon its arrival.
Evacuation Plans Underway
The vessel, the MV Hondius, is anticipated to reach Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, either on Saturday or Sunday. Virginia Barcones, Spain's head of emergency services, stated on Thursday: "They will arrive at a completely isolated, cordoned-off area." Spain is actively coordinating with the governments of the citizens aboard regarding their repatriation plans.
The United States has committed to sending an aircraft to the Canary Islands to bring home its 17 citizens from the cruise ship. Similarly, the British government has announced it will charter a plane to evacuate the nearly two dozen British nationals still on the MV Hondius.
Deaths and Illnesses Reported
Tragically, at least three passengers have died, and several others are reported to be ill. However, the World Health Organisation has assessed the risk to the wider public from this outbreak as low.
Hantavirus is typically transmitted through the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and is not easily spread between people. Symptoms usually manifest between one and eight weeks following exposure.
None of the remaining passengers or crew on the ship is currently symptomatic, the Netherlands-based Oceanwide Expeditions cruise ship company said Thursday.
Contact Tracing Challenges
Health authorities across four continents were continuing to track down and monitor passengers who disembarked the ship before the deadly outbreak was detected, and are trying to trace others who may have come into contact with them since then.
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, the ship’s operator and Dutch officials said Thursday. On Friday, U.K. health authorities said a third British national is suspected to have the hantavirus.
The U.K. Health Security Agency said the suspected case is on Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory in the south Atlantic where the ship stopped in April. There was no word on their condition.
Two other Britons who were on the ship have been confirmed to have the virus. One is hospitalized in the Netherlands and the other in South Africa.
Authorities in South Africa are also trying to trace contacts of any passengers who previously got off the ship. They have focused mainly on an April 25 flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg, the day after passengers disembarked there.
