Cruise ship hit by hantavirus outbreak arrives in Tenerife, evacuation begins

A cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak arrived early this morning near the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Reuters footage showed, where it will dock to evacuate passengers and some crew.

The passengers, none of whom have shown signs of infection, will be tested by Spanish health authorities to confirm they remain symptom-free and then transported to the mainland on small boats, Spanish officials said.

Sealed buses will then transport passengers to the main airport on the Spanish island, about 10 minutes away, where they will board planes for their home countries.

All passengers on the luxury cruise ship "MV Hondius" are considered high-risk contacts as a precaution, the European Public Health Agency announced late last night as part of its urgent scientific recommendations.

The evacuation is expected to begin between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., according to Spanish authorities.

Spanish nationals are expected to disembark first, followed by other passengers in groups according to nationality, government officials said on Saturday. Thirty crew members will remain on board and sail to the Netherlands, where the ship will be disinfected.

Among the crew members is a Montenegrin citizen.

The Spanish health minister said the evacuation from the ship would last until Monday afternoon.

After the Spanish citizens disembark, as planned, passengers from the Netherlands will follow, whose plane will also carry passengers from Germany, Belgium and Greece. After that, passengers from Turkey, France, Great Britain and the United States will be evacuated, it was explained.

The ship set sail for Spain from the coast of Cape Verde on Wednesday, after the World Health Organization and the European Union asked the country to organize the evacuation of passengers after a hantavirus outbreak was discovered.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, on Saturday evening, along with Spain's interior and health ministers, as well as the minister for territorial policy, to coordinate the ship's arrival.

The WHO said on Friday that eight people had been infected, including three who died - a Dutch couple and a German citizen. Six people had been confirmed to have the virus, while two more cases were considered suspected, the WHO said.

Hantavirus is usually transmitted by rodents, but in rare cases can be transmitted from person to person. The WHO said the risk to the wider global population is low, but that the risk to passengers and crew on board is moderate.