Ruptly
"Spanish health and civil protection officials on Wednesday outlined the large-scale evacuation and quarantine operation planned for the Dutch-flagged cruise ship MV Hondius, which is carrying confirmed cases of the Andes strain of hantavirus and is expected to arrive in Tenerife on Sunday. “What we find here is a situation of a ship where infections are occurring, and we have to manage it, but in terms of population risk, we are talking about a very low risk,” said Spain’s Director General of Public Health, Pedro Gullon, during a press conference in Madrid. According to Spanish authorities, there are currently eight linked cases associated with the outbreak, including three deaths and five additional symptomatic individuals in varying conditions. “None of these eight people is on board the ship that left Cabo Verde yesterday and is heading to the Canary Islands,” Gullon stressed. “Once the ship arrives in the Canary Islands, first an inspection of the ship and the people on it will be conducted to determine their health status,” he explained. “If there are no new cases, the individuals will be taken to their places of origin.” Spanish nationals onboard - 13 passengers and one crew member - will reportedly be transported by Ministry of Defence aircraft to Madrid before being transferred to Gomez Ulla Military Hospital for quarantine and monitoring. Spain’s Secretary General of Civil Protection, Virginia Barcones, said extensive measures were being implemented to ensure the operation remained fully isolated from the public. “They will arrive in an area that is completely isolated and fenced off, they will be loaded onto vehicles that are isolated and guarded and will arrive at an area of the airport that will be completely isolated,” Barcones said. “There will be no possibility of contact at any time.” She confirmed that repatriation plans are now being coordinated for nationals from 23 countries onboard the vessel, with several governments already preparing dedicated evacuation flights. The United States has reportedly agreed to send a plane for its citizens, while Britain is also advancing plans for a dedicated repatriation flight. Barcones said 12 countries are currently participating through the European Civil Protection Mechanism, including France, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and the Netherlands. The outbreak aboard the expedition cruise ship has triggered a major international health response involving the World Health Organisation, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Spain, Cape Verde and Dutch authorities. Earlier on Wednesday, Cape Verde’s National Director of Health, Angela Gomes, confirmed that three symptomatic individuals - including the ship’s doctor and two crew members - were evacuated by air ambulance to the Netherlands for specialised treatment. The Andes variant of hantavirus is typically linked to exposure to infected rodent droppings, though health authorities are also investigating the possibility of rare human-to-human transmission aboard the vessel."
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