European states to evacuate citizens from hantavirus-hit ship

MADRID: Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands will send planes to evacuate their citizens aboard the Tenerife-bound cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, Spain's interior minister said in Madrid on Saturday. The European Union is sending ⁠two further planes for remaining European citizens, Fernando Grande-Marlaska added. The US and UK have ⁠confirmed planes and contingency plans were being arranged for non-EU citizens whose countries were unable to send air transport, he said. World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will meet Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid ‌on Saturday afternoon and then travel to Tenerife ​in the Canary Islands, alongside ⁠Spain's interior and health ministers to coordinate the arrival of the ship. ​It is expected to anchor near the island between 03:00 GMT and 05:00 GMT.
Local authorities have warned the evacuation must take place between Sunday midday and Monday afternoon ​before conditions at sea are expected to take a turn for the worse until the end of May due to stormy weather. The luxury cruise ship MV Hondius left for Spain on Wednesday from the coast of Cape Verde after the WHO and European Union asked the country to manage the ‌evacuation of passengers onboard after the hantavirus outbreak was detected. The World Health Organization said on ​Friday that eight people had fallen ill, including three who died — a Dutch couple and ​a German ‌national. Six ⁠of these people are confirmed to have contracted the virus, with another two suspected cases, the WHO has said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ​said ​affected US passengers aboard a Dutch cruise ship hit by an outbreak of a deadly strain of hantavirus are expected to be repatriated on a US government medical flight to Nebraska. MV Hondius is ⁠expected to arrive in the Canary Islands on Saturday ⁠or Sunday. There are 17 US passengers aboard the ship, according to cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions. 'The Department of State is closely ‌tracking the hantavirus outbreak on a ​Dutch cruise ship ⁠in the Atlantic Ocean and maintaining close contact ​with the cruise ship ‌staff, Americans on board, and US and international health authorities,' a US State Department ​spokesperson said earlier in the day.
The US passengers will be brought to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha before being transported to the National Quarantine Center at the University of ‌Nebraska. A team of CDC epidemiologists and medical professionals ​has been deployed to the Canary Islands to assess the ​exposure ‌risks of ⁠the US passengers and determine appropriate monitoring measures, the agency said. An additional CDC team is set to deploy ​to Offutt Air Force Base to support health ⁠assessments for ​the returning passengers.
Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents but can in rare cases be transmitted ​person-to-person. All passengers as well as 17 crew members will be ⁠evacuated but 30 crew ​will stay on board and travel on to the Netherlands, Spain's Health Minister Monica Garcia said. Luggage and the body of a deceased passenger on the ship will remain on board and the ship will be fully disinfected on arrival, she added. Spanish citizens will disembark ​first, with the order of evacuation of the remaining groups of citizens to ​be determined by health authorities. Citizens will not be able to disembark until their evacuation plane is ready to depart, Grande-Marlaska said. — Reuters