Spain has taken on the unprecedented evacuation operation of the cruise ship MV Hondius, affected by an outbreak of hantavirus during a journey through South America. However, this action will not pose a problem for the population because its passengers and crew will not have contact with other people. This was confirmed yesterday afternoon by the Secretary General of Civil Protection and Emergencies of the Ministry of the Interior, Virginia Barcones, in a press conference focused on conveying a message of "absolute tranquility" to the Canary population.
"There will be no contact with the population," she emphasized. "Let the men and women in the Canary Islands be absolutely assured that there will be no possibility of contact at any time," she said alongside the Director General of Public Health and Health Equity of the Ministry of Health, Pedro Gullón, regarding a hypothetical hantavirus contagion, a rare infectious disease mainly transmitted by rodents that can cause severe respiratory conditions. Barcones reiterated that passengers will not leave the ship until the planes that will take them to their home countries have arrived. Once they do, those considered asymptomatic will be transferred with a "quick and agile process of ten minutes" to the airport using the cruise line's means, "but supervised by the Government."
"They will be completely isolated from the civilian population, they will arrive at a completely isolated and perimetered area, they will board vehicles that are isolated and guarded, and they will arrive at an area of the airport that will be completely isolated, they will board the planes and leave," she stressed. She also pointed out that those involved in the process will have "all the necessary protective equipment to ensure their integrity under the highest standards." In this context, she highlighted that decisions are being made "following the guidelines of health institutions such as the WHO or the health agencies of the European Commission, the Government, and always in coordination with the autonomous community."
In recent days, the situation on the ship has become complicated after several passengers presented symptoms compatible with hantavirus. Two passengers related to this outbreak have died. One of them disembarked already deceased during previous evacuation operations. Subsequently, a woman who remained on the ship and whose condition had worsened during the journey also died. On the past Wednesday afternoon, the hantavirus positive cases were already evacuated from the ship and flown to the Netherlands. Unless new cases appear, the ship will arrive in Spain without infected passengers, and on board will travel two medical specialists.
This decision is endorsed by scientists who consider it "reasonable and correct." The cruise ship with hantavirus will arrive at the Port of Granadilla (Tenerife) on Sunday at noon and will carry on board a corpse and about 147 people including crew and passengers. The body belongs to one of the three deceased from the outbreak on the MV Hondius confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and who has not yet been evacuated. Health and Civil Protection urge the Canary population to remain "absolutely calm" because the rest of the asymptomatic individuals will be evacuated, although they will be isolated at all times during the transfers.
"The evacuation of the body will be carried out with a different procedure than that of the rest of the healthy individuals, there are established protocols on how a corpse must be evacuated from a ship," explained the Director General of Public Health, Pedro Gullón. He added that it is a "fairly common" situation at sea and that there are established protocols for evacuating a corpse in these circumstances. In any case, he insisted, the evacuations are "different" and the deceased person will be "separated" from the rest of the travelers.