WHO message to calm Canary Islanders: "Trust the preparations"

BarcelonaThe complex operation that this Sunday must evacuate the passengers and part of the crew of the MVHondius has entailed great diplomatic efforts to coordinate the actions of the different countries, but also to appease the fear of hantavirus and the reluctance to approach the Canary coast. Concerns that have also served to fuel political attacks. The outbreak totals six positive cases – among whom are the three deceased victims – so the ship will arrive in port without new infections having been confirmed.

Spanish ministers have been insisting for days that the operation will not put the population of Tenerife at risk at any time. Politicians and scientists, who insist on differentiating the current situation from covid-19, have also sent messages of reassurance about the extent of the virus. This Saturday, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom, also wanted to do so. In a message on social media, he addressed Canary Islanders directly: "This is not another covid. The current risk to public health from hantavirus remains low. Trust the preparations that have been made. And know that the WHO is with you."

Adhanom arrived in Tenerife this Saturday, at the same time as the Ministers of Health, Mónica García, and the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. They landed in the south of Tenerife a few hours before the cruise ship docks there. The forecast is that the ship will be in Canary waters between five and seven this Sunday, Catalan time, and will not enter the port of La Granadilla until daylight. At that time, the evacuation of the 151 people on board will begin, which will always be done by nationality groups. In total, there are people from 23 different countries.

The first step of the protocol will be an "exhaustive evaluation" to check that everyone continues to be asymptomatic, as the Spanish government stressed this Saturday night. If so, they will begin to disembark in a "staggered and orderly manner," Marlaska and García explained. The ship will anchor within the port, but will not reach the coast, and, while it is there, the Spanish government has prohibited any navigation within a nautical mile of the vessel. Only the small army boats will approach, bringing passengers ashore in groups of five. The executive has reiterated that no one will leave the ship until the plane that will repatriate them is ready to take off, and therefore insists that there will be no risk of contagion for the inhabitants of the island.

Zodiacs and 11 kilometers by bus

The first to disembark the ship will be the 14 Spanish passengers on board and the WHO representative in Africa who is also on the ship –there are four epidemiologists in total– and who is considered a contact of an infected person. The zódiacs will take them ashore, where buses will be waiting to cover the 11 kilometers to the airport. There they will board a Spanish Air Force plane. All fifteen will be quarantined at the Central Defense Hospital Gómez Ulla in Madrid. The isolation period they will have to undergo will be calculated based on the day the contact occurred, and will be reviewed based on their progress and test results. From the moment they arrive at the port of Granadilla, they will also be accompanied by a psychiatrist who will be with them until they are admitted to the hospital, and they will also have access to a psychological support telephone line available 24 hours a day.

So far, all persons on board the ship have been willing to self-isolate to prevent the spread of the virus. Nevertheless, since this Saturday, the executive has had judicial approval for the quarantine. A court in Madrid has ratified the order from the Ministry of Health, which notifies the isolation measures that the Spaniards on board the MVHondius must follow, and considers the measure to be "proportionate" to the risk of contagion.

All persons disembarking the MVHondius this Sunday will only be allowed to carry a small piece of hand luggage, which must be closed in a bag. Only basic items will be allowed, such as documentation, a mobile phone, and its charger. Both the evacuees and the personnel participating in the operation will be protected with FFP2 masks to prevent contagion.

Only 30 crew members will remain on board –the other 17 will be repatriated–, who will continue sailing to the Netherlands, the country of which it flies the flag. This is the option that the Spanish government had advocated for during the week in negotiations about the ship's destination.

"Exhaustive" tracking

So far, the WHO has confirmed six hantavirus positives, including three deaths, and there are two more probable cases. Spanish ministers have reiterated in recent days calls for calm and not to magnify the scope of the virus, and have also insisted that an "exhaustive" trace is being carried out of all persons who were on the plane that made the Johannesburg-Amsterdam route where the woman who had been infected on the cruise and ended up dying boarded for a few minutes. Italy also has four people who were on the same flight under surveillance. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that more contacts may appear.

For now, the Spanish government has three possible contacts under its radar who were on the plane where one of the victims boarded. The first was a 32-year-old woman, who was admitted to an Alicante hospital on Friday because she presented symptoms after having come into contact with the Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg. This Saturday, however, the PCR result has been negative for hantavirus, and by protocol she will be given another test within 24 hours.

Health authorities have also contacted, through the embassy, a South African woman who spent a week in Barcelona and is now in her country. The woman stated that she had not had close contact during her stay in the Catalan capital. Finally, this Saturday, a woman has been admitted to the Hospital Clínico de Barcelona to undergo quarantine there. Like the others, she has undergone a PCR test to verify if she has contracted hantavirus. For now, then, the only suspected case –that of the woman from Alicante– has been ruled out, and the other two women –who are not considered suspected cases, but rather contacts– are awaiting laboratory results.