Overview
- Three patients were flown off the ship Wednesday to specialist hospitals in Europe, including the vessel’s British doctor, with two showing acute symptoms and one evacuated as a close contact.
- Spain’s Health Ministry approved the ship’s arrival in the Canary Islands after Tuesday’s decision, and it plans sealed transfers and dedicated facilities for screening, though the islands’ regional leader has opposed docking.
- The WHO said the outbreak now totals eight cases linked to the voyage, including three confirmed by lab tests and three deaths, and it continues to assess the overall public risk as low.
- South African and Geneva labs confirmed the Andes strain, and WHO officials said limited person‑to‑person spread likely occurred among close contacts who shared cabins.
- A traveler in Zurich who shared a flight segment with an infected passenger tested positive for the Andes strain, prompting contact tracing for the St Helena–Johannesburg route and other links tied to the cruise.