Granadilla de Abona (Spain) (AFP) – The final evacuations from a cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak started in Spain’s Canary Islands on Monday after unfavourable weather conditions unexpectedly forced it to dock. Another 28 people were due to be repatriated from the MV Hondius, which has sparked alarm after three passengers died following an outbreak of the rare virus that usually spreads among rodents. No vaccines or specific treatments exist for hantavirus, but health officials have insisted that the risk to global public health is low and dismissed comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The complex evacuation operation flew out 94 people of 19 different nationalities from the Dutch-flagged vessel on Sunday. Of the 54 people left, 28 were due to disembark on Monday and the other 26 were to stay on the vessel as it continued on to the Netherlands, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said on social media. But after hours with no update on the resumption of disembarkations, Garcia’s ministry said the harbour master had recommended the docking “for weather-related reasons.” The Canary Islands regional government had resisted taking in the ship, which was originally only authorised to anchor offshore for health safety reasons.
“The vessel will remain docked for the minimum amount of time necessary to ensure the safety of the passengers and members of the evacuation operation. The measure will allow the cruise ship’s quicker departure for the Netherlands,” the health ministry said. AFP journalists at the small industrial port of Granadilla on Tenerife saw workers connect a walkway to the ship and people leaving the vessel en route to their repatriation flights. The central Spanish government has stressed that there will be no contact with the population.
After refuelling and receiving fresh supplies, the MV Hondius was scheduled to leave at 7:00 pm (1800 GMT) with a skeleton crew, but it was unlikely that the timetable would be met. The final evacuees, including Australians, a New Zealander, a Briton, and crew members, were to leave on two flights to the Netherlands, the health ministry said, after initially speaking of one plane.
Among the completed repatriations, a French woman, one of five evacuees from France placed in isolation in Paris, started to feel unwell on Sunday night, and “tests came back positive,” Health Minister Stephanie Rist said. Late Sunday, the US health department said one American national evacuated from the ship had “mild symptoms” and that another had tested positive for the Andes virus, the only hantavirus strain that is transmissible between humans.
Spain’s health ministry responded by defending the rigour of the evacuations, where medical teams escorted passengers from the ship to an airport on Tenerife under close supervision and following health checks. “From the start, all the measures adopted have aimed at cutting the possible chains of transmission… all measures for prevention and control of transmission have been applied,” the ministry said in a statement.
In all, eight cases have been confirmed in the outbreak, and two more are listed as “probable,” according to the World Health Organization and national health authorities, with citizens of six countries affected. Other suspected cases and potential close contacts with infected people are being investigated, with health authorities in several countries tracking passengers who had already disembarked from the ship, plus anyone who may have come into contact with them.
In a video shared on Monday by the ship’s operator Oceanwide Expeditions, captain Jan Dobrogowski paid tribute to the “unity and quiet strength” of everyone on board and highlighted the “courage and selfless resolve” of the crew. The MV Hondius left Argentina, where hantavirus is endemic, on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde. The World Health Organization believes the first infection occurred before the start of the voyage, followed by transmission between humans on board the vessel. But Argentine health officials have questioned whether the outbreak originated in Ushuaia, based on the virus’s weeks-long incubation period and other factors.
© 2024 AFP
