The Spanish government, in coordination with the World Health Organization, will allow passengers from the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship to disembark at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife this weekend. The decision has angered local dock workers, who protested outside the Canary Islands parliament, fearing health risks.
More than 140 passengers and crew are aboard. The ship arrived from Cape Verde, where three people were evacuated due to illness. Health officials will conduct careful evacuations, which must be completed within 24 hours of arrival on Sunday, or face delays due to weather.
Spain’s health minister called it an “unprecedented operation.” The United States has agreed to repatriate 17 Americans on board, who will be quarantined at the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. There are no symptoms reported among them.
The outbreak has claimed three lives: a Dutch couple and a German national. Four others are infected-two Britons, a Dutch, and a Swiss national-being treated in hospitals across Europe and South Africa.
British and Spanish authorities are investigating two possible new cases: one on the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, and another in Alicante, Spain.
The WHO assesses the global risk as low but moderate for those on board.