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WHO Leads Sealed Evacuation as Hantavirus-Stricken Cruise Ship Nears Tenerife

The operation follows confirmation of six Andes virus cases with three deaths linked to the voyage.

Overview

  • WHO on Friday confirmed six Andes hantavirus cases, including three deaths, tied to the MV Hondius and kept the wider public risk rated low.
  • Spanish authorities plan to keep the ship offshore near Tenerife on Sunday with passengers moved by small boats to guarded buses only when repatriation flights are ready in a cordoned area.
  • WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived in Spain on Saturday to oversee the operation, and the operator says no one on board currently has symptoms.
  • The United States will fly 17 citizens to quarantine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, while the UK is arranging a charter to bring home roughly two dozen Britons for supervised isolation.
  • Contact tracing spans several countries after more than two dozen people left the ship without checks on April 24, with a suspected case under evaluation in Spain, a suspected case on Tristan da Cunha, and a KLM flight attendant who tested negative.