MV Hondius heads for Tenerife

The MV Hondius, the cruiser stricken by an outbreak of hantavirus, will dock at Tenerife’s southern port of Granadilla de Abona within three days, where passengers and crew will be evaluated and evacuated.

Granadilla is the largest industrial port in the Canaries, located around ten kilometres from Tenerife Sur airport.  

Spain’s Health Ministry yesterday confirmed that the decision to allow the cruiser to dock at the Canaries was taken after a request from the World Health Organisation. The Canaries “meet all the conditions for safe disembarkation and protection of health,” according to the Ministry.

Meanwhile, a plane carrying two crew members who exhibited symptoms of hantavirus remains on the tarmac at Gran Canaria’s airport, after an electrical problem with an isolation unit was detected. No one is permitted to leave or board the plane, which was travelling to the Netherlands.

South African authorities recently confirmed that a victim of the outbreak suffered from the Andes strain of the hantavirus, which is usually transmitted by contact with infected rats and mice.

Transmission between humans is also possible, but requires “close and prolonged contact”, with the WHO classifying the risk of general contagion as low.