The cruise ship affected by the hantavirus outbreak docked in Tenerife to evacuate its passengers

The cruise ship Hondius, which suffered a hantavirus outbreak, arrived early Sunday morning at the port of Granadilla, in the south of the Spanish island of Tenerife, for the evacuation of its more than 100 occupants, AFP journalists observed.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the governments of the United States, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Belgium are sending aircraft to repatriate their citizens. He also explained that the European Union will also deploy two additional aircraft for other European passengers.

Grande-Marlaska added that, once all passengers have disembarked, the vessel MV Hondius will sail to the Netherlands to undergo a complete disinfection process. For her part, Spain's Minister of Health, Monica Garcia, announced during a press conference that lSpanish citizens on board the cruise ship will be the first to be able to leave the vessel. "Spain can assure the entire world that this will be handled properly and that there will be no additional contact beyond what has already occurred on the ship," Garcia said.

The Hondius departed Argentina last April 1 with 114 passengers and 61 crew members. Since then, three passengers have died, one of them with a confirmed diagnosis of hantavirus, according to the World Health Organization. According to the operator Oceanwide Expeditions, 147 people remain on board, and the WHO reported that none are currently showing symptoms.

In a letter to Tenerife residents, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained that the passengers will be transferred ashore in sealed and guarded vehicles through a restricted corridor isolated from the public upon arrival at the Port of Granadilla, and will subsequently be flown to their respective countries. WHO official Maria Van Kerkhove indicated that health teams have already assessed the level of exposure of each passenger and stressed that the threat to the general population remains low, detailing that any passenger who develops symptoms will be placed on a separate flight and flown to the Netherlands for treatment.