A number of passengers who disembarked the virus-stricken MV Hondius have already been spotted flouting quarantine protocols, mere hours after theill-fated vesselmade landfall on Spain's Canary Islands.
One passenger, who is understood to be from the Netherlands, was photographed group waving to journalists from the bottom of the bus after removing his mask.
In another photograph,a passenger from the shipcan be seen with a facemask hanging from his ear, despite everyone else beingclad with full PPEin the immediate vicinity.
As per the local press, a Spanish healthcare worker from the state-deployed healthcare support team was seen on Sunday getting off one of the buses provided by the Military's emergency response unit, the Unidad Militar de Emergencias (UME). The healthcare worker then removed his PPE in the middle of a public space.
As locals fear becoming the centre of another pandemic-era disaster, World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was pressed by reporters about lax attitudes to quarantine protocols.
He seemed unphased. He replied: "I saw that in the picture [of a maskless passenger] also," he said. "[The mask] was hanging on his ears. You know, so many of these passengers are elderly, and you can imagine how uncomfortable could be - especially when you have FFP2 masks."
Read more:WHO reassures Tenerife as hantavirus cruise ship MV Hondius approaches
Read more:British hantavirus cruise ship evacuees arrive at UK isolation facility
NEW - WHO's Tedros responds to pictures that have been circulating online of one of the passengers not wearing a mask: "Many of these passengers are elderly and you can imagine how uncomfortable it could be when you have, especially FFP2 masks."pic.twitter.com/n0VzDtZJOW
He said that it was important to remember that the majority of the passengers who disembarked the boat plagued by the ray-borne disease are mostly elderly and already have "many health challenges" that come in one's twilight years.
Source: Daily Express :: World Feed
