The director of the World Health Organization (WHO) this Saturday called on the inhabitants of Tenerife to remain calm, as the Spanish island prepared to receive passengers from a cruise ship affected by the hantavirus that has caused the death of three people and has unleashed growing local indignation.
Residents have taken to the streets in recent days to protest against the imminent arrival of the MV Hondius to the Canary Islands, after the Spanish Government overlooked the opinion of local leaders and granted permission for the ship to anchor offshore on Sunday.
Many on the tourism-dependent island fear that even a carefully coordinated landing could damage the region’s image and economy.
Protests continued on Friday, with local residents chanting: “Yes to tourism, no to the virus.”
Eight cases of hantavirus related to the outbreak have been recorded on board the ship, according to the latest WHO update this Saturday, and three people have died.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made a direct appeal to local residents this Saturday, assuring them that Sunday’s operation posed minimal risk to the public.
Although the virus is “serious,” he said, “the risk for you, who live your daily lives in Tenerife, is low. This is the WHO’s assessment, and we do not do it lightly.”
He highlighted that the WHO’s request for Spain to accept the ship was made under a “legally binding framework,” adding that almost 150 passengers and crew from 23 countries have been at sea for weeks.
“Some are in mourning, everyone is afraid and everyone is homesick,” Tedros added. “Tenerife has been chosen because it has the medical capacity, infrastructure and solidarity necessary to help them get to safety.”
The ship is expected to anchor offshore early Sunday. Most passengers and crew will be transferred ashore at the port of Granadilla in small boats and taken directly to planes for repatriation flights in sealed and guarded vehicles, Tedros added.
“You will not meet them,” he assured local residents. “Their families will not meet them.”
Spanish citizens are expected to disembark first, according to Spanish Health Minister Mónica García. All passengers will wear FFP2 masks, he added.
Tedros stated that he would travel to Tenerife to “observe this operation first-hand, to be alongside the health workers, port staff and officials who are making it possible.”
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist specializing in infectious diseases at the WHO, declared this Saturday during a press conference that health examinations continue on board the ship and that anyone who presents symptoms upon disembarkation will be transferred to the Netherlands for treatment. Passengers and crew who do not present symptoms will be transferred to their countries of origin, he said.
Currently, no one aboard the ship is showing symptoms and contact tracing is underway to determine who may have been exposed. All people on board remain considered “high-risk contacts,” Van Kerkhove said.
“The goal” is for all repatriation flights to take place between Sunday and Monday, Van Kerkhove said.
Several nations, including the United States, Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands, have sent planes to evacuate their citizens, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska declared this Saturday.
Thirty crew members will remain on board the ship and sail to the Netherlands for the disinfection process, along with the body of one of the deceased passengers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has sent a team to Tenerife to receive the 17 Americans who will disembark from the ship. They will be transferred on a flight arranged by the State Department to a specialized quarantine facility in Nebraska that was previously used to house patients in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is unclear what his quarantine period will be. Dr. Michael Wadman, director of the National Quarantine Unit, said the duration will be determined after an “epidemiological assessment.”
Van Kerkhove assured this Saturday that the WHO recommends “active monitoring and follow-up” of all passengers and crew for 42 days from their “last point of exposure” to a confirmed case.
There are currently 17 U.S. citizens aboard the cruise ship and another seven who have already returned to the country, a CDC official said Saturday. They are all being tracked by the CDC, he added.
The Americans aboard the ship will be taken to Nebraska for monitoring and evaluation, but will not be quarantined, the official said. He did not specify how long they will remain there, but noted that it is expected to be a short stay.
The total monitoring period will last 42 days and will not necessarily be carried out entirely in Nebraska, as it will include one by the passengers themselves once they return home, he added.
An official from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who was also present at the press conference stated that the risk to the American population remains extremely low and that there is no indication of an increased risk for regular travel.
