The MV Hondius is scheduled to anchor at the Port of Granadilla, Tenerife, between 3 AM and 5 AM Sunday…
The hantavirus-stricken vessel, carrying 149 souls, will not be allowed to dock at pier facilities to prevent local contact…
14 Spanish nationals will be moved under high-containment protocols to a military hospital in Madrid for quarantine…
Non-Spanish citizens showing symptoms will be “evaluated and repatriated” directly to their home countries in an unprecedented operation…
Regional vice president of the Canary Islands confirms the ship must stay inside the port due to “wind and depth” risks outside…
Three deaths have already been recorded on the Dutch-flagged vessel since it departed Argentina…
[May 8] Tenerife media presence currently exceeds security forces as the island braces for the “plague ship’s” arrival.
[May 7] Singapore’s NCID is monitoring two individuals linked to the vessel’s previous itinerary.
The port is ready, the soldiers are ready, but the local population is on edge.
Ship to anchor offshore Tenerife at 3 AM; zero-land contact allowed.
Health body gives briefing as Spain says ship will not dock in Tenerife but be anchored offshore and passengers will have no contact with the public
A summary of today’s developments
Authorities around the world are racing to trace dozens of passengers who disembarked from the cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak before isolation measures were implemented. It emerged for the first time on Thursday that at least 29 passengers of 12 nationalities left the MV Hondius on 24 April after the first fatality, prompting a scramble to identify and track their movements since then.World Health Organization experts stressed the hantavirus cruise outbreak was “not the start of Covid pandemic” as they pointed several differences between the two viruses and insisted the public health risk remained low.
Spain’s head of civil protection, Virginia Barcones, provided details at a press conference in Madrid about what those on board the cruise ship can expect after arriving in the Canary Islands at around midday on Sunday. She said: “From the moment when we see that asymptomatic people are ready to be evacuated from our country, there will be a quick process. They will not leave the boat until the plane is there to take them to their countries. Once they leave the boat, they will be taken by road, it’s about a 10-minute drive.” Barcones added: “Mechanisms are being put together, but they will be completely isolated from the public.
Fernando Clavijo, the regional president of the Canaries, said he persuaded the central government not to allow the MV Hondius to dock in Tenerife. Clavijo had objected over the boat’s arrival, saying it could threaten public health in the archipelago, and had demanded a meeting with the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez.
After a meeting between Pope Leo and US secretary of state Marco Rubio earlier today, the Vatican said the pair “renewed the shared commitment” for good relations between the US and the Vatican.