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Operation in Tenerife/ First passengers evacuated from ship affected by hantavirus

2026-05-10 18:17:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Operation in Tenerife/ First passengers evacuated from ship affected by

The first passengers evacuated from a hantavirus-affected cruise ship docked near Spain's Canary Islands have arrived in Madrid.

Fourteen Spanish nationals on the charter flight from Tenerife will be placed under mandatory quarantine at a military hospital in the capital Madrid. 

Three people have died from the virus outbreak on the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, including two who were confirmed to have hantavirus. 

Health Minister Mónica García said the operation was proceeding normally and that all passengers on board the MS Hondius were asymptomatic.

The MV Hondius arrived at the port of Granadilla on Sunday morning, a month after the first passenger died on board. A plane bound for the Netherlands is expected to pick up 27 people, including Belgian, Greek, German and Argentine citizens.

Other flights are set to depart after that, including those to the UK and the US. The final evacuation flight is expected to depart for Australia on Monday.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a quarantine period of 42 days for cruise passengers from their last exposure.

Passengers from the United Kingdom will be taken to an isolation center where they will be held for up to 72 hours. Doctors will then assess whether they can isolate at home or in another suitable location based on their living conditions.

Dozens of intensive care specialists were on standby at the Candelaria hospital in Tenerife in case anyone became seriously ill during the transfer. A strict isolation facility has one bed fully equipped to deal with infectious diseases.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is in Tenerife to oversee the landing, said the operation was going very well. /CNA





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