Spain's Ministry of Health has authorized the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius to dock at a port in the Canary Islands after Cape Verde refused to allow disembarkation. The decision was made in coordination with the World Health Organization and the European Union. Madrid speaks of a "moral and legal obligation" to help — among the 147 people on board are 14 Spaniards, one of whom is a crew member. According to Tuesday's announcement, the ship's doctor, who is in critical condition, is to be transported to the Canary Islands by medical aircraft; the rest of the passengers and crew are to continue by ship and arrive within three to four days. The exact port has not yet been determined.
WHO has acknowledged that the hantavirus may have been transmitted on board between "close contacts". This is a rare form of transmission for hantaviruses, documented so far mainly with the Andes virus in South America. Maria Van Kerkhove of WHO told the newspaper El País that the first infections likely did not originate on the ship itself; according to the organization's working hypothesis, they may have occurred off the ship during the passengers' stay in South America, including Argentina. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is examining the ship near Cape Verde and determining who needs to be urgently evacuated. Dutch authorities are preparing to airlift some of the sick; according to media reports, at least two patients are to be flown to the Netherlands.
As of May 5, WHO has recorded seven cases of infection — two laboratory-confirmed and five suspected — including three deaths. According to information available so far, an elderly Dutch married couple and one person from Germany have died. According to the Guardian, a British crew member is among those being prepared for urgent evacuation. The MV Hondius departed from Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 and, following an itinerary in the South Atlantic, was originally headed for a port in Cape Verde.
WHO has also launched an international contact-tracing effort — searching for more than eighty passengers on a flight to Johannesburg, on which one of the infected women had traveled. The Dutch public broadcaster NOS specified that authorities are also reaching out to passengers from that same flight. WHO continues to assess the risk to the wider public as low.
Ship with hantavirus outbreak may dock in the Canary Islands, WHO admits human-to-human transmission
This summary was written in cooperation with AI. It may contain inaccuracies. Please verify information in the original sources below.
Sources (3)
Loď s ohniskom hantavírusu zamieri na Kanárske ostrovy
BBC News
| 23:44 05.05.
WHO hľadá pasažierov letu do Johannesburgu, na ktorom cestovala žena nakazená hantavírusom
NOS
| 21:30 05.05.
María Van Kerkhove (WHO): Predpokladáme, že prvé prípady hantavírusu sa nakazili mimo lode
El Pais
| 14:55 05.05.
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