A cruise ship carrying over 140 passengers and crew, struck by a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has claimed three lives, is nearing Spain's Canary Islands, triggering a massive international evacuation and isolation operation led by the WHO.
The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has arrived in Spain to oversee the evacuation of more than 140 passengers and crew from a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship heading to the Canary Islands. Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are confirmed infected, with additional suspected cases emerging in the UK and Spain. Spain's Health Minister, Monica Garcia, is coordinating the disembarkation in Tenerife, where passengers will be taken to a 'completely isolated, cordoned-off area.' Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Hantavirus is typically spread by contaminated rodent droppings and isn't easily transmitted between people; however, the Andes virus detected in this outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Despite the situation, the WHO maintains that the risk for the population of the Canary Islands and globally remains low. International health authorities across four continents are actively tracking and monitoring dozens of passengers who disembarked before the deadly outbreak was detected. Concerns about wider transmissibility were eased after a flight attendant who briefly interacted with an infected cruise passenger tested negative for hantavirus. The Netherlands, as the flag state, has activated the EU civil protection mechanism for a medical evacuation plane and is working with Spanish authorities to arrange repatriation and home quarantine for its citizens, potentially accommodating other nationalities under monitoring.
