Canary Islands residents worried: Covid-era quarantines if a cruise ship with people infected with hantavirus arrives?

The arrival of a cruise ship affected by a hantavirus outbreak, announced for this weekend, is rekindling memories among residents of Spain's Canary Islands of the quarantines they experienced during the Covid pandemic, Reuters reports today.

The MV Hondius cruise ship, carrying 150 people, is expected to arrive in Tenerife on Saturday, where it will dock after Spain agreed to requests from the World Health Organization (WHO) to take it in, despite protests from the local government.

The island archipelago was one of the first places in Europe to go through quarantine in the early days of the pandemic. More than 700 tourists were trapped in a Tenerife hotel for 14 days in February 2020 after authorities closed the facility to prevent the spread of the virus, weeks before the virus spread to the rest of Europe.

Other epidemics, such as the 2014 Ebola outbreak, have also hit the islands, whose economy depends heavily on tourism. The archipelago has also lamented having to bear the brunt of the migrant crisis from West Africa.

"We are a community that is already quite flexible when it comes to helping others and accommodating people, but I think this is too much. People are scared, people are worried. Spain is a huge country with lots of ports where a cruise ship could go," said local resident Margarita Maria, 62.

The World Health Organization says the risk to the public remains low and that the variant detected among travelers can only spread between people through close, prolonged contact.

However, the news has sparked fears that hospitals and health centres in Tenerife will have to close, said a nurse who asked not to be identified.

"It will be the same as Covid... People are worried about their children, elderly relatives and vulnerable people," the nurse said, adding that a virus quarantine protocol on the islands, if declared, could affect schools and health centers.

All passengers on the ship who did not show symptoms of the disease will be returned to their countries, while 14 Spaniards on board will be transferred to a hospital in Madrid for quarantine, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said on Wednesday.

Some residents have complained that the Canary Islands' status as a safe destination means they always have to shoulder the responsibility that other tourist markets avoid, according to Reuters.

"Tourist destinations that compete with the Canary Islands on the international market, such as Morocco, were not taken into account, and the decision was made to bring the cruise ship to the Canary Islands - there must be some reason for that," said Jorge Marichal, president of Tenerife's hotel association, Ashotel.

Madrid has not communicated what is expected of the archipelago, making it difficult to calm the tourism industry, said the regional government's tourism minister, Lope Afonso.

Some Canary Islanders were concerned that this could affect Pope Leo's planned visit to the Canary Islands in June.

"Can you imagine a pope with hantavirus? That's a headline we don't want," local comedian Omajra Cazorla said on Instagram.