The MV Hondius, a polar cruise ship struck by a hantavirus outbreak that has killed three people and triggered an international health scare, is heading to Tenerife. Nineteen British passengers and three crew members will be flown to Merseyside on Sunday to be quarantined at Arrowe Park hospital in Wirral, the same facility that housed Britons returning from China at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ship Denied Docking in Cape Verde
The vessel spent days stranded off the coast of Praia, the capital of Cape Verde, where local authorities refused to allow it to dock due to fears that a wider outbreak could overwhelm the small island nation's healthcare system. The ship is now en route to the Canary Islands, where all 146 passengers will be screened for the infection on Sunday morning before being transferred to their home countries.
WHO Director General Reassures Tenerife
Similar concerns have been raised in Tenerife, but the director general of the World Health Organization, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, issued a personal statement on Saturday describing hantavirus as “serious” but emphasizing that “the risk is low.” He wrote: “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. But I need you to hear me clearly: this is not another Covid. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low.”
Spanish Government Coordinates Evacuation
Dr Tedros traveled to Spain on Saturday to meet Spanish President Pedro Sánchez, whose country is coordinating the evacuation from the vessel. The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, successfully lobbied the Spanish government on Thursday to prevent the ship from docking in Tenerife. Instead, it was agreed that the vessel could anchor offshore to allow for the transfer of passengers and crew, but only when planes were ready on the asphalt to receive them. However, winds are expected to pick up after Monday, potentially leaving personnel from countries without arranged flights stranded on board.
Quarantine Plans for British Passengers
The ship is expected to arrive in Tenerife earlier than originally anticipated, in the early hours of Sunday morning. It will anchor off the coast near the southern commercial port of Granadilla, where passengers will be screened for the virus. They are being asked to isolate for 42 days from their point of potential exposure, which for most passengers will be many days ago. In a message to hospital staff, Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University teaching hospital trust, wrote: “The plan is for the British passengers and ship crew not displaying any symptoms of hantavirus to be escorted by UK government staff and given free passage back to the UK and as a precaution they will remain in isolation.” She added that the accommodation block at Arrowe Park hospital would “provide them with a safe place for their isolation period.”
