"The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Credit: Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Passengers are preparing to disembark from the cruise ship at the center of the hantavirus outbreak
- The MV Hondius cruise ship is expected to arrive in Tenerife, the largest and most populous of the Canary Islands, in the early hours of May 10
- WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low”
As the MV Hondius cruise ship at the center of the hantavirus outbreak plans to return to land, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) wants to make it clear that the epidemic is "not another COVID."
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus penned a letter to the residents of Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands on Saturday, May 9, as the cruise ship plans to dock in the area the next day. On Sunday, May 10, Ghebreyesus will be joined by Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska to coordinate the disembarkation of passengers and some crew.
“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment,” Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
“But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low," he continued. "My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now. … The risk to you, living your daily life in Tenerife, is low. This is the WHO’s assessment, and we do not make it lightly.”
In an earlier post shared on X, Ghebreyesus said he arrived in Spain and was told by the ship's captain and a WHO colleague on the vessel that "there are no additional people on board showing symptoms of hantavirus."
The MV Hondius cruise ship — which has over 140 passengers and crew on board — is expected to arrive in Tenerife, the largest and most populous of the Canary Islands, in the early hours of May 10, according to the Associated Press.
Credit: AFP via Getty
The Canary Islands initially announced that it opposed the cruise ship docking there, according to NBC News, The Guardian and Reuters.
"This decision is not based on any technical criteria, nor is there sufficient information to reassure the public or guarantee their safety," Canary Islands regional leader Fernando Clavijo told radio station COPE earlier this week, per NBC News.
However, Spain’s national government in Madrid maintained that the Canary Islands would be able to accept the ship, which is currently sailing in the Atlantic Ocean.
Ghebreyesus said on X that he personally thanked Spain’s prime minister for his decision to allow the Canary Islands to let the ship dock there.
He further explained that the decision to dock the ship in Tenerife was made because it is the “nearest port with sufficient medical capacity” in order to “ensure the safety and dignity of those on board.”
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There are 8 suspected cases linked to the boat, three of which were confirmed as hantavirus by laboratory testing, according to a WHO update shared on May 6.
At least three cruise ship passengers have died so far. While none have been identified, NBC News reported that they are believed to be a Dutch couple and a German national. (One person is still being treated in an intensive care unit in South Africa.)
Credit: AP Photo/Manu Fernandez
The international health agency previously shared on X that the strain of hantavirus linked to the cruise ship is the Andes hantavirus, which originates in South America.
It can be transmitted person-to-person, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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