A drone view of the cruise ship MV Hondius, carrying passengers suspected of having cases of hantavirus on board, leaves Praia, Cape Verde, May 6, 2026. Yonhap
MADRID — Spanish authorities on Friday were preparing to receive more than 140 passengers and crew members on board a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship headed for the Canary Islands, where health officials have said they will perform careful evacuations.
The vessel is expected to reach the Spanish island of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, on Saturday or Sunday.
“They will arrive at a completely isolated, cordoned-off area,” said Virginia Barcones, Spain's head of emergency services, on Thursday.
The MV Hondius is a Dutch-flagged vessel and Dutch officials said Friday they were also in close contact with the ship's owner and authorities of countries whose citizens are on board.
The United States has agreed to send a plane to the Canary Islands to repatriate its 17 citizens from the cruise ship. The British government also said it will charter a plane to evacuate the nearly two dozen British nationals onboard.
At least three passengers have died , and several other people are sick. The World Health Organization considers the risk to the wider public from the outbreak as low, and on Friday, confirmed that a flight attendant on a plane briefly boarded by an infected cruise passenger had tested negative.
Her possible infection had raised concerns about the virus’s potential transmissibility. Christian Lindmeier, a WHO spokesman, said Friday her negative result should alleviate panic.
“The risk remains absolutely low,” he said of the virus outbreak. “This is not a new COVID.”
Hantavirus is usually spread by the inhalation of contaminated rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Source: Korea Times News
