{"id":140670,"date":"2026-05-11T21:02:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T21:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/passengers-leave-hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship-in-tenerife\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T21:02:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T21:02:46","slug":"passengers-leave-hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship-in-tenerife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/passengers-leave-hantavirus-hit-cruise-ship-in-tenerife\/","title":{"rendered":"Passengers leave hantavirus-hit cruise ship in Tenerife"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Passengers and crew from the cruise ship\u00a0MV Hondius began disembarking in Tenerife on Sunday under a tightly coordinated international health operation led by Spanish authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO), as officials sought to reassure the public that the outbreak \u201cis not another COVID.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The vessel arrived off the Canary Islands after weeks at sea at the centre of an international public health response triggered by a hantavirus outbreak that has claimed three lives.<\/p>\n

WHO\u00a0Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is leading a team in Tenerife, stressed that the risk to the wider public remains low.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not another COVID,\u201d he told journalists during a\u00a0media stakeout\u00a0on Sunday, adding that \u201cthe risk to the public is low\u201d and that people \u201cshouldn\u2019t be scared and they shouldn\u2019t panic.\u201d<\/p>\n

There have been eight cases linked to the ship of which six cases have been laboratory-confirmed as hantavirus infections as of Friday, with all identified as Andes virus (ANDV), although no new deaths had been recorded since 2 May.<\/p>\n

Disembarkation operation<\/h4>\n

The disembarkation operation began early in the morning, with Spanish health authorities boarding the ship to assess passengers and crew before transferring them ashore in stages based on nationality and flight availability.<\/p>\n

According to WHO\u2019s health operations lead in Tenerife, Diana Rojas Alvarez, passengers and crew from Spain, France, Canada and the Netherlands were among the first groups to leave the vessel.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been extremely intense, but also very well organized,\u201d she said during a WHO\u00a0media briefing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Around 46 passengers and crew were expected to disembark on Sunday, with operations due to continue into Monday. About 30 crew members are expected to remain on board as the vessel returns to the Netherlands accompanied by a medical team.<\/p>\n

Repatriation flights<\/h4>\n

WHO officials said none of the passengers would travel on commercial flights. Instead, chartered repatriation flights are being coordinated with national authorities under strict health protocols.<\/p>\n

Maria van Kerkhove, WHO Director for Epidemic and Pandemic Management, said passengers and crew would undergo active health monitoring for up to six weeks because of the virus\u2019s incubation period.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur recommendation is for active follow-up, which means daily monitoring, checking for fever or other symptoms,\u201d she\u00a0said<\/a>, adding that WHO recommends either home or facility-based quarantine and monitoring for 42 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really a cautionary approach to make sure that we don\u2019t have any opportunities for this virus to pass from others. We\u2019ve also recommending when they get off the boat and when they are around others to be wearing a respirator, for that extra layer of protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hantavirus disease<\/h4>\n

Hantavirus is a rare disease usually linked to exposure to infected rodents and can cause severe respiratory illness. The Andes strain associated with the outbreak is the only known hantavirus strain with documented human-to-human transmission, although WHO has said that transmission risk remains low.<\/p>\n

The agency said the operation in Tenerife involved close coordination between Spain, the Netherlands, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and WHO teams on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what WHO does,\u201d Dr. van Kerkhove said, noting that the agency routinely coordinates international responses to infectious disease threats even when public attention is limited.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post Passengers leave hantavirus-hit cruise ship in Tenerife<\/a> appeared first on KBC Digital<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Passengers and crew from the cruise ship\u00a0MV Hondius began disembarking in Tenerife on Sunday under a tightly coordinated international health operation led by Spanish authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO), as officials sought to reassure the public that the outbreak \u201cis not another COVID.\u201d The vessel arrived off the Canary Islands after weeks at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}