How will the Spanish authorities evacuate the passengers of the ship infected with the Hanta virus? | news

A state of anticipation prevails on the Spanish island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands archipelago, which will receive within hours the cruise ship “MV Hondius” infected with the Hanta virus, amid measures taken by the authorities to evacuate passengers and prevent their contact with the local population.

From the site of the event, Al Jazeera correspondent Ayman Al-Zubair monitored the preparations of the Spanish authorities there, as the Spanish Ministers of Interior and Health and the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, are expected to arrive to supervise the evacuation of passengers.

Al-Zubair quoted government sources on the island that the evacuation process will not take place at maximum speed, indicating that when the ship arrives about 8 hours from now, specialized teams will be forced to enter it and inspect the conditions of the passengers.

He pointed out that after verifying their relative safety, they will be transported via small boats to the port of Granada and from there to planes at Queen Sofia Airport near the port.

He stated that the process, which he described as complex, includes different stages, as the Spanish citizens will be transferred to the military hospital in Madrid in implementation of a judicial order forcing them to enter quarantine due to their last contact with infected people on April 27.

According to Al-Zubair, the Spanish government is trying not to raise concerns among the island’s residents by tightening the measures taken to prevent their contact with the ship’s passengers.

He stated that buses had been allocated to transport passengers directly to the airport, stressing that the ship’s passengers, who are divided into 23 nationalities, would not be removed before the arrival of the planes that would transport them to their countries.

Earlier, the company operating the Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius expected it to arrive on the Spanish island of Tenerife early Sunday morning.

Oceanwide Expeditions said in a statement yesterday, Friday, that “preparations related to the point of arrival, quarantine and examination procedures for all passengers, and subsequent travel plans for them and the affected crew are being led by organizations from several countries.”

The company added that no symptoms appeared on anyone on board the cruise ship until yesterday evening, Friday.

She added that after the ship docks in the port of Granadilla on the island of Tenerife, the authorities will take responsibility for medical procedures and the possible return of passengers to their country.

5 countries seek to evacuate their citizens

Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said that Germany, France, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands would send planes to evacuate their nationals from the cruise ship.

Marlaska added that the European Union will send two other planes to transport the remaining European citizens.

He explained that the United States and Britain also confirmed that arrangements are being made to send planes and develop emergency plans for citizens from outside the European Union whose countries were unable to send planes to transport them.

The Spanish Minister of the Interior confirmed that the process of receiving and transporting the ship’s passengers is ready, saying that “the health authorities are the ones who will decide how the passengers will be transported from the ship to land.”

Injury developments

For its part, the Spanish Ministry of Health said that a Spanish citizen in Alicante Hospital showed some symptoms of the Hanta virus, after she was on the same plane that transported someone infected with the virus. She later died, noting that she is currently undergoing tests.

The ministry added that another citizen in Barcelona who was on board the same plane will undergo tests, stressing that the Spanish citizens on board the ill-fated ship did not show any symptoms.

Yesterday, Friday, the World Health Organization announced that 8 people were infected, including 3 who died, explaining that 6 cases had been confirmed, while two cases were classified as probable.

The organization said that 6 cases were confirmed to be infected with the Andean strain, which is one of the strains of the Hanta virus, through a polymerase chain reaction test.

The ship was carrying 147 passengers and crew when the outbreak was first announced on May 2, while 34 others had already left the ship.

Four patients remain hospitalized in South Africa, the Netherlands and Switzerland, while a suspected case sent to Germany tested negative.

The ship left Cape Verde on May 6 and is currently sailing to Spain’s Canary Islands, where passengers are expected to disembark.

The World Health Organization said that the risk to populations around the world is generally low, but the risk to the ship’s passengers and crew is moderate.

The organization stated that the first case may have been infected before boarding the ship, perhaps while traveling in Argentina and Chile, suggesting that the spread may have occurred later on the ship.

Hanta virus is a group of viruses that is transmitted mainly through rodents, especially mice, as the virus lives in their urine, feces, and saliva.

A person can become infected when inhaling contaminated particles in the air, or by touching contaminated surfaces and then touching the nose or mouth. Unlike some other viruses, its transmission between humans is very rare.