The 14 Spaniards from the cruise ship affected by hantavirus will quarantine in a military hospital in Madrid

Barcelona / BrusselsThe cruise ship affected by hantavirus will disembark from here in three or four days in Granadilla de Abona, a secondary port in the southeast of the Canary island of Tenerife, very close to the airport. Here it is expected that all passengers and crew can be evaluated by medical teams, but they will not be able to disembark from the ship. From next Monday they will be repatriated to their countries of origin if they do not present any symptoms compatible with the infection. In the case of the 14 people of Spanish nationality who are on board —including five Catalans—, they will be transferred by an army plane to the Torrejón de Ardoz base, in Madrid, to be admitted to the Gómez Ulloa military hospital, where they will spend their quarantine. The authorities have not yet determined for how long, but they do know that the incubation period for hantavirus is about 45 days. The ship set sail on Wednesday afternoon and Health estimates it will take three days and 12 hours to dock in the Canary Islands if there are no unforeseen events.

The choice of this military hospital is due to the fact that it has seven of the 16 high-level isolation and treatment units spread across Spain, and which have adequate characteristics for treating infected patients. As explained at a press conference by the Minister of Health, Mónica García, the operation will be carried out with "special care so that if there is a symptomatic person, they cannot infect anyone". Even in the Canary Islands, there is a bed with these special characteristics that, also according to the minister, the Canary Islands government has assured will have it ready in a couple of days, before the ship docks.

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and the Minister of Health have appeared in Madrid after the meeting with representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) to explain the details of the health crisis that has arisen as a result of the hantavirus outbreak. García stated that both the arrival in the Canary Islands and the transfer to Madrid will be carried out with "all the guarantees to avoid contact with the local population" and to not endanger the staff who will assist them.

The European Union will activate the European Civil Protection Mechanism, with the support of the WHO, which will allow the coordination of technical and health teams. "The situation is complicated, but controlled," indicated the head of the Interior Ministry. Both officials defended Spain's acceptance of hosting the luxury ship, under Dutch flag, in the Canary Islands for "legal and humanitarian" reasons.

The cruise ship has been anchored for days off the port of the capital of Cape Verde, which has refused to allow its evacuation. The outbreak's toll leaves three people dead and three more evacuated to the Netherlands in medicalized planes, including the ship's doctor who was initially supposed to have been transferred to the Canary Islands. This Wednesday, a medicalized plane took off from Cape Verde carrying two patients to the Netherlands. On the way, the plane made a stop —which was already planned— in Gran Canaria to refuel, without anyone boarding or disembarking. Their initial intention was to stop in Morocco, but the country did not allow it.

So far, none of the Spaniards have symptoms compatible with the virus. The president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has indicated that the five Catalans are "in good condition" and has asked for "serenity and confidence," after having expressed full support for the actions of the Spanish government. Meanwhile, from Brussels, the counselor for the European Union and External Action, Jaume Duch, has assured in statements to the media that Catalonia "has the infrastructure and is prepared" to receive the passengers if Moncloa requests it.

Criticism from the Canary Islands

However, the decision to dock in the Canary Islands has not pleased the president of the archipelago, Fernando Clavijo (of Coalición Canaria), who before knowing the destination of the port of Granadilla had rejected that the luxury ship MV Hondius should head towards the archipelago. Furthermore, he had criticized that the Spanish government had accepted the WHO's demand without having informed him. For this reason, he had asked President Pedro Sánchez to reconsider the decision, as the management of ports is a state competence. But from Moncloa they respond that now is not the time for a meeting, while assuring that there have been telephone and WhatsApp contacts between both presidents to share impressions and information.

In fact, both García and Marlaska have denied Clavijo's accusations and have maintained that throughout Tuesday and "at all times" "contacts at all levels" were maintained, both politically and technically, between both executives. The ministers have also announced that the Canary representatives will be summoned to all meetings within the framework of the activated European civil protection mechanism. García has even assured that she herself had spoken directly with the president of the Canary Islands to detail all the steps and decisions affecting their territory.

Clavijo is not convinced by the executive's reasons and criticizes that the ship's transfer to the Canary Islands "does not obey any technical criteria", while complaining about the lack of information to his government "to maintain a message of calm and guarantee the safety of the population". The Canarian president is on a visit to Brussels, where he met with the Vice-President of the European Commission Teresa Ribera, in a meeting scheduled prior to the crisis and in which the ship's situation was not addressed. In statements to the press, the Canarian stated that it "makes no sense" for the passengers of the tourist ship "to have to make a three-day journey" to the Canary Islands, and not disembark at an international port. "They could be repatriated directly from Cape Verde", he pointed out.

On the contrary, Marlaska emphasized that the WHO asked Spain for a safe port for the ship because it is the closest country to the ship that offers "its own muscle" of technical and security capacity and because it has European support and mechanisms. "The WHO is behind the operation and has asked us for help", repeated the minister, who also justified the decision for "ethical, moral and humanitarian" reasons, as well as legal ones, in relation to various international conventions and norms and the Constitution itself, which obliges the government to protect its nationals. For his part, García stated that the arrival of the cruise ship "will not pose any risk to the population or to the economic activity" of the Canary Islands.

In the Canarian narrative, however, Clavijo reiterated that the Canary Islands have no protocol prepared for a "totally extraordinary situation" like this and recalled that on all the islands there is only one hospital bed with high biological requirements. In this regard, Clavijo once again asked Madrid to contact them and explain the state of affairs to them in order to manage the situation in the best possible way. "We ask for loyalty, information and collaboration", insisted the Canarian president.

A patient admitted in Switzerland

Far from the ship, this Wednesday another infection has also been confirmed of a man who traveled on the MV Hondius and who is now isolated in a hospital in Zurich, a reference center for infectious diseases in Switzerland, as the Helvetic country has confirmed to the WHO. The patient and his partner disembarked from the cruise at the end of April, before hantavirus was detected, and he himself went to the health center after presenting symptoms. Finally, laboratory tests have confirmed a positive result for the Andes strain, the same one found in the other affected individuals on the cruise. However, Swiss authorities have added that there is currently no risk to the country's population. With this Swiss patient, there are now eight affected, although only three have laboratory confirmation.

The Andes strain of the virus is present in Latin America and is the only one in which human transmission has been documented. The tests to identify the strain were carried out by an WHO collaborating laboratory in South Africa thanks to a sample taken from a person who had been on board the affected ship. For her part, the Minister of Health has insisted that human contagion "is not usual, but it is not to be ruled out either", but she has called for calm.

In France, health authorities are monitoring a man who traveled on the same plane as a person who contracted hantavirus on board the MV Hondius, one of the two passengers who were evacuated from the ship to Johannesburg at the end of April to be hospitalized. French authorities have not spoken of contagion at any time, they only point out that they are doing a "close monitoring" of the situation and assure that "contact tracing around confirmed cases" is being carried out.