Ruptly
"Furious Tenerife residents and dock workers gathered at the island’s port on Friday to protest against the arrival of the MV Hondius, after a deadly hantavirus outbreak on board raised fears of a wider health crisis. Some locals drew parallels with the COVID pandemic, saying they feared another lockdown if authorities failed to contain the outbreak. "What really scares me is the pandemic itself. This virus feels far more dangerous than COVID. [...] With this virus, people fear the risk is much higher, even for otherwise healthy individuals. I'm not usually someone who panics about viruses, but this one has scared me to death!" said a local. Footage shows protesters chanting, waving Canary Islands flags and holding placards as they warned they could try to block the vessel from docking. Residents said they feared local authorities did not have sufficient safety measures in place to accommodate affected passengers, while some accused Madrid of shifting the crisis onto the islands to keep it away from mainland Spain. "I don't think they should allow the vessel to dock here," said one protester. "Morocco already said no, so why should we in the Canary Islands have to deal with it?" He claimed the islands risked being left isolated if the situation worsened. "If something goes wrong, the Canary Islands are the ones that end up isolated," he said. "Why? So the crisis does not spread to the mainland or reach Pedro Sanchez's doorstep." Another demonstrator said Tenerife's hospitals were already under pressure and could not cope with a large number of possible patients. "Our hospitals have no room for more people, and now there is concern that passengers on the ship could be sick. That's why we oppose it," she said. Protesters also said they were worried the ship's arrival could trigger a wider health crisis and raise the prospect of another lockdown. "It's terrible because we already experienced the previous virus," one activist said. "The President of the Government should act more responsibly instead of waiting to bring them to the Canary Islands." The MV Hondius, carrying 150 people, is expected to reach Tenerife on Saturday. Three people have died, including a Dutch couple and a German national. The WHO confirmed three cases and flagged five suspected ones. The vessel had been held off Cape Verde after authorities refused to allow passengers to disembark. Spain granted permission for the ship to dock in the Canary Islands for quarantine and further checks, despite a row with the local government. Hantavirus is typically linked to contact with infected rodent droppings. The Andes strain is one of the few known forms that allow rare human-to-human transmission, though health officials say the wider public risk remains low. Severe cases can cause respiratory failure or haemorrhagic fever."
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