The cruise ship that was hit by a deadly outbreak of hantavirus is coming ashore on the Canary Islands in Spain on Sunday, with almost 150 passengers and crew expected to be evacuated after weeks at sea.
The ship MV Hondius, of Dutch origin, arrived in the port of Granadilla escorted by the Spanish Civil Guard, according to the maritime tracking data.
Three passengers were killed by the outbreak, two Dutch and a German woman, and some others became ill with the rare rodent-borne disease.
Officials announced the presence of the Andes virus, the only variant of hantavirus known to spread from one person to another, triggering fear.
The WHO has said that all passengers aboard are “high-risk contacts”, but said that the threat to the general public is “low.”
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who flew to Tenerife before the evacuation, has assured people that the situation is being contained, declaring: “This is not another Covid.”
The ship will not dock in Spain directly. Rather, passengers will be checked and moved in tightly controlled operations before boarding flights home by nationality group.
Security areas and closed transit lines are put in place to keep the locals away.
But life on the island of Tenerife, despite the extra security measures, was largely normal on Sunday, as markets, cafes and beaches were all busy.
The MV Hondius sailed out of Ushuaia, Argentina on April 1 for the transatlantic passage to Cape Verde where several infected passengers were evacuated earlier this week.
Several countries have been tracking passengers who have been aboard the ship, and there are still suspected cases being monitored in Spain and elsewhere.
Also read: WHO says there is low risk of hantavirus spreading among general public
