Key moments
- The Government assures that the areas where the cruise travelers will go in Tenerife will be isolated
- The United Kingdom reports a new suspected case
The Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, has reported a suspected case of hantavirus in Alicante. It concerns a passenger who was on the plane that the patient who died in Johannesburg after traveling on the MV Hondius cruise and contracting the virus was supposed to board. Additionally, there is another person who traveled on the same flight, spent a week in Barcelona, and returned to their country of origin, South Africa. It is unknown if they have reported symptoms. He also assured that none of the 14 Spanish passengers on the cruise have expressed opposition to voluntary quarantine to minimize the risks of spreading the outbreak that has claimed the lives of three passengers. According to Padilla, the Ministry team will travel to Tenerife tomorrow, where the cruise is expected to anchor this Sunday. Passengers will disembark by boats, and the Spaniards will be transferred by military plane to Madrid. Spain is coordinating with 22 countries the repatriation of the remaining passengers, more than a hundred. For now, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are five confirmed cases of infection and three suspected.
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The two Singapore residents who disembarked from the ‘Hondius’ in Saint Helena test negative for hantavirus
Two Singapore residents who were passengers on the MV Hondius have tested negative for hantavirus, according to the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) and reported by Reuters. They are two of the 30 passengers who disembarked from the ship on April 28 on the island of Saint Helena.
The CDA National Public Health Laboratory has confirmed that after testing multiple samples from the individuals, aged 67 and 65, no hantavirus was detected. However, according to the National Center for Infectious Diseases, they will remain in quarantine for 30 days from the date of last exposure and will undergo further testing before being discharged.
So far, the WHO records five infected people and three suspected cases. Additionally, a 32-year-old woman remains in quarantine in Alicante after contact with one of the deceased in the outbreak and showing symptoms compatible with hantavirus.
The National Court admits the appeal to prevent disembarkation in Tenerife
The National Court has admitted the appeal filed by the Iustitia Europa party to suspend the decision to disembark the passengers of the ‘MV Hondius’ in Tenerife. There is no resolution yet on the urgent precautionary measures requested from the National Court, which is expected in the coming hours, and was requested urgently by the political party.
Health reports that another person in contact with a patient spent a week in Spain
Besides the woman from Alicante considered a suspected case due to contact with a hantavirus patient, the Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, has reported that another person who traveled on the same flight as the woman spent a week in Barcelona and has already returned to their country of origin, South Africa. He explained that efforts are underway to locate this person in South Africa, but it is unknown if they have reported symptoms.
Health confirms there is a suspected hantavirus case: a woman isolated in Alicante
The Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, has confirmed a suspected hantavirus case in Spain, a woman in Alicante who has shown symptoms, mainly cough and general discomfort. She is a passenger who traveled on the plane briefly boarded by the patient who died in Johannesburg (South Africa) after traveling on the MV Hondius cruise and contracting the virus.
The Spanish woman, who is at home, will be transferred to a hospital in Alicante. Padilla explained that the Spanish woman “was two rows behind” and that the contact “was brief” because the cruise passenger who later died “spent little time on board” the flight. “One of the things being done by the Public Health people of the Valencian Community is to start contacting the contacts this person had,” Padilla added.
This will be the protocol for passengers at Gómez Ulla
The Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, has assured that the Public Health Commission unanimously approved today the protocol to evacuate passengers from the MV Hondius: “It establishes that people will be transferred to Gómez Ulla and will undergo a PCR test at the start of their stay there and another seven days later.”
Additionally, Padilla added, they will have their temperature taken twice a day and be monitored for possible symptoms. “If they show any compatible symptoms, they will become a possible case,” Padilla explained, adding that a psychological and emotional follow-up program will also be implemented to support the passengers.
Regarding suspected cases, Padilla explained, these people will be “transferred to an isolation room” and tested with a PCR. If negative, the test will be repeated 24 hours later. If symptoms persist without an alternative diagnosis, tests will be conducted in isolation every 48 hours.
For now, no specific quarantine period has been established, pending clarification of the last contact with possible cases. “A very strict quarantine will be carried out during the first seven days at Gómez Ulla Hospital,” Padilla indicated, assuring that then “a reassessment of the situation will be made” and recalling that since April 28 there have been no suspected cases on the ship.
The Government, about the ‘Hondius’ passengers: “All areas they will transit will be isolated and there will be no contact with the civilian population”
The Secretary General of Civil Protection and Emergencies, Virginia Barcones, has assured that there is no risk that the hantavirus outbreak registered on a cruise heading to the Canary Islands will spread during passenger disembarkation. “All areas they will transit will be isolated and there will be no contact with the civilian population,” she stated at a press conference with the Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla.
Barcones explained that disembarkation will be done “in Zodiac boats, in small vessels, when the planes are ready.” Cruise travelers will be transferred to the airport runway and will board the plane “directly” there. Disembarkation “will only occur when the plane is fully prepared.”
Javier Padilla and Virginia Barcones, director of Civil Protection, this Friday.
The Government reports no clinical changes on the hantavirus ship: “That is good news”
The Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, stated that “there are no clinical updates” related to the hantavirus outbreak aboard the Antarctic cruise MV Hondius, which is heading to the Canary Islands for passengers and crew to be evacuated and transferred to their countries. “That is already good news,” Padilla celebrated.
He also reported having contacted the ship’s travelers, who asked him to convey that “they are not a risk to the general population,” since they will not transit through public areas. They will be evacuated by ship boats, which will remain anchored until the evacuation of those to be disembarked and transferred by car to a nearby airport for repatriation is complete. “They have shown some concern about some statements made upon their arrival,” he said.
Abascal accuses Sánchez of “creating the risk of an epidemic of a deadly virus” due to the cruise arrival
Vox leader Santiago Abascal accused the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, on Friday of bringing the cruise with the hantavirus outbreak to Spain despite the epidemic risk – he claims – with the sole purpose of covering up the Ábalos case. According to Abascal, Sánchez “has decided to bring to Spain a ship with a deadly virus, creating a risk, still unknown if greater or lesser, of an epidemic spread” to “hide his crimes and the activities of his mafia” and “divert attention.”
The Vox leader omits that the cruise will dock in the Canary Islands because the WHO requested Spain to do so as it was the nearest safe port with health capacities to manage a public health emergency. “We have all the distrust, all the fears. They open Spain’s doors wide to the ship so that their corruption is not talked about,” Abascal insisted in statements to journalists in Montilla, during the Andalusian campaign.
The PP insists on demanding the resignation of the Minister of Health and Fernando Simón amid the crisis
The PP again demanded on Friday the resignation of the Minister of Health, Mónica García, and Fernando Simón, director of the Coordination Center for Health Alerts and Emergencies, amid the management of the crisis of the cruise with a hantavirus outbreak heading to the Canary Islands. The PP spokesperson in Congress, Ester Muñoz, emphasized that García “is not focused on what matters,” as she is involved in an internal dispute for the leadership of Más Madrid, and defended that “her inability to manage this crisis is evident.” “She is the minister who has had the most doctors’ strikes,” Muñoz highlighted in an interview on Cuatro, where she also criticized Fernando Simón. “He does not provide security and should not be in his position,” she questioned the expert. “Spaniards cannot trust a person who said nothing would happen with the pandemic,” the deputy stated.
The PP spokesperson also insisted that the hantavirus management “is an absolute chaos” and linked this crisis management to the COVID pandemic. “It’s like adding insult to injury. In the early days of COVID, they said nothing was wrong, it was safe to go to concerts and demonstrations. Fernando Simón said there would be three or four cases and days later we were all locked down,” Muñoz stressed. The PP deputy also defended the theory that the Government harms the Canary Islands because the regional government is not PSOE, although the request for the cruise to dock in the islands came from the WHO as it is the nearest safe port. “If the cruise were to arrive in Catalonia and Illa had told Sánchez it caused problems, he would have diverted it,” Muñoz argued.
Hantavirus
Gustavo Palacios, Andes hantavirus expert: “This pathogen is more virulent and there can be chain infections”
WHO officials have compared the situation on the MV Hondius ship, where three people have already died, with another hantavirus outbreak that occurred in Argentine Patagonia between 2018 and 2019. After the virus was introduced from a rodent reservoir, three symptomatic people attended crowded social events: a birthday, a funeral, and a doctor’s appointment. These are super-spreader events, situations where a virus whose main reservoir is mice passes from human to human and creates an outbreak. Then there were 34 infections and 11 deaths.
Now the global scientific community is trying to learn from that event, which involved lockdowns and contact tracing. But at the time, just six years ago, few believed a group of scientists who tried to trace the virus and prove it could spread between people relatively easily. Gustavo Palacios, a microbiologist at Mount Sinai in New York, was the lead author of the study published in the prestigious medical journal The New England Journal of Medicine.
Clavijo assures that passengers will only leave the ‘Hondius’ if the plane is already on the runway
The Canary Islands president, Fernando Clavijo, has stated that his government knows for sure that “no passenger” of the MV Hondius will leave the ship if their evacuation plane is not already on the runway. Clavijo said there is “certainty” that the time the evacuees touch land in the Canary Islands will be “as short as possible.” “Once it is guaranteed that the ship does not touch land, as it will anchor outside the port of Granadilla, the most important thing is to coordinate the transfer of those passengers from the ship to the dock and from the dock directly to the airport,” Clavijo said referring to the detailed protocol that Foreign Health will provide.
According to the regional president, the main idea is that vehicles with evacuees go directly to the plane stairs as quickly as possible, so the time spent on land in the Canary Islands “is minimal” and with “all” protection guarantees: “We know for sure that no passenger will leave the ship if the plane is not landed on the runway,” he concluded.
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The regional president added, however, that the “unknown” remains whether the cruise, flying the Dutch flag, can leave “immediately” for the Netherlands if its crew remains in good health. “If the crew is in good condition, it makes no sense for it to be off the Canary Islands’ coasts,” he said. (Europa Press)
Bolaños responds to Clavijo: “All protocols being carried out are in coordination with WHO and the EU”
The Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, responded to criticisms from the Canary Islands president, Fernando Clavijo, stating that the decision to transfer the operation to attend people who had contact with hantavirus-infected individuals was made by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission.
In an interview on Antena 3, the minister assured that “all protocols being carried out are in coordination with the WHO, the European Commission, and the European Center for Disease Prevention.” The Justice Minister responded this way to criticisms from the Canary Islands president, who had said in an interview with ABC newspaper that “there was no need for Spain to host that cruise.”
In this regard, Bolaños added that authorities have congratulated and chosen Spain because “the Spanish public health system is prepared to face a crisis like this” and assured that the WHO’s decision for our country to manage the crisis is because “we have all the guarantees and all the human resources to carry it out safely.” (Servimedia)
Ángel Víctor Torres does not rule out mandatory quarantines if necessary
The Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres, has assured that when the 14 Spaniards from the MV Hondius, from six different autonomous communities, arrive at Gómez Ulla Hospital, “their individual circumstances will be assessed,” but he did not rule out imposing mandatory quarantine if necessary: “The answer is clear, under certain circumstances, for epidemiological and public health reasons, a person can be quarantined by judicial order,” he asserted.
In a brief statement to the media, the minister said the ship is expected to arrive at Granadilla on Sunday morning and that the same day, the 14 Spanish passengers will fly to Gómez Ulla Hospital in Madrid so the ship stays off the Canary Islands’ coasts “for the shortest possible time.”
Torres also indicated that “all passengers are asymptomatic” and called to reduce political noise: “I think there has been too much controversy, let’s follow expert criteria and health recommendations. Some issues should not enter politics,” he concluded.
A passenger confirms to EL PAÍS that they accept quarantine: “We agree”
Spanish passengers aboard the MV Hondius, the cruise where hantavirus cases have been registered, have confirmed to EL PAÍS what the Minister of Health, Mónica García, said, that none of them oppose undergoing a quarantine period once transferred to Spain, to Gómez Ulla Hospital in Madrid. “Yes, we agree,” one of the 14 Spaniards who participated in the Antarctic cruise and are now traveling to Tenerife to disembark and be transferred to the Madrid hospital told this newspaper.
This morning, the Minister of Health had anticipated that none of the travelers, all asymptomatic, had expressed opposition to voluntary quarantine to minimize the risks of outbreak spread. In any case, the minister warned that Spain has legal “instruments” to oblige them if they refuse.
Health assures that no Spanish passenger has opposed quarantine
The Secretary of State for Health assured in an interview on La 1 that none of the 14 Spanish passengers of the MV Hondius have expressed opposition to voluntary quarantine to minimize the risks of spreading the hantavirus outbreak that has claimed the lives of three cruise passengers.
According to Javier Padilla, Spaniards will be provided with a document guaranteeing their willingness to comply with the quarantine, which will take place at Gómez Ulla Hospital in Madrid for a period yet to be determined. Additionally, Padilla indicated that the Ministry team will travel tomorrow to Tenerife, where the MV Hondius is expected to anchor this Sunday.
Mónica García: “Foreigners with symptoms will be evacuated to their countries”
The Minister of Health, Mónica García, assured on Friday that “foreigners with symptoms will be evacuated to their countries,” if they do not need urgent medical attention and “regardless of whether they have any symptoms,” she clarified. She said this in an interview on Radio Nacional de España, emphasizing that it is not the time “to introduce uncertainties, fears, or sterile political debate,” in response to the latter to criticisms from the Popular Party about the hantavirus outbreak management.
García also referred to the quarantines of the 14 Spaniards, about which doubts remain as to whether they will be mandatory: “We will appeal to responsibility, common sense, and informed consent,” she explained, to “look after their health and that of the general population.” “They are the first interested,” she stated.
“Of course, we will provide all explanations, we are giving them, about all decisions,” García responded regarding the urgent and extraordinary appearance request by the PP in Congress. The Popular leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, criticized on Thursday, at an Andalusian campaign event, that this crisis “catches the Minister of Health arguing about who will run in her party’s primaries.”
The health official also wanted to send a couple of messages to the public about the hantavirus outbreak. First, she asked the population to get information “through official channels” against the proliferation of hoaxes and conspiracy theories. Second, she assured that “we are a safe country” and added that “the WHO trusts us” to deploy the device that will receive the MV Hondius cruise in Tenerife on Sunday.
Dutch flight attendant tests negative for hantavirus
The World Health Organization has reported that a Dutch KLM flight attendant who had been in contact with the woman who died of hantavirus in Johannesburg tested negative for possible infection. The woman was admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam on Thursday with some symptoms. (Reuters)
The United Kingdom reports a new suspected case
The UK health security agency has reported a suspected hantavirus case in a British citizen on Tristan da Cunha island, one of the stops of the MV Hondius cruise. No further details about this case are known.
So far, two British citizens have been confirmed as positive hantavirus cases. A 69-year-old man in intensive care in Johannesburg, but the WHO says he is improving. And a 56-year-old man, an expedition guide, who was evacuated to the Netherlands and remains isolated but is well.
There are two other British citizens who returned to the country and are isolated but asymptomatic. These two were among the seven British who disembarked on Saint Helena island before the outbreak was known.
The US national public health agency classifies the hantavirus outbreak at the lowest emergency level
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States, the country’s national public health agency, has classified the hantavirus outbreak as a Level 3 emergency response, the lowest emergency activation level, according to ABC News.
Donald Trump said on Thursday that he has been informed about hantavirus and added that he hopes the situation is “very controlled,” according to Reuters.
Argentina accuses WHO of “using” hantavirus to “condition” its decision to leave the organization
The Argentine Ministry of Health has accused the World Health Organization (WHO) of “using” the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise, which departed from the Argentine port of Ushuaia, to “condition a sovereign decision” of its country, whose government announced its departure from the same organization in March 2026, following the steps of the United States, which did so earlier this year.
“The WHO again puts politics before evidence and tries to use an extraordinary health event to condition a sovereign decision of Argentina,” the ministry emphasized in a statement defending that this situation “demonstrates that technical cooperation does not require political subordination.” The Argentine ministerial text came after WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed to the possibility that the governments of Argentina and the United States reconsider returning to the organization, as they are “affected” by the outbreak of this respiratory infection which, he stressed, “does not care” about “borders” or “politics.” (EP)
Hantavirus
Unprecedented anchoring in Tenerife, boats and negotiations with 22 countries: the difficult return home of the hantavirus cruise passengers
Two days before the MV Hondius arrives at Granadilla de Abona, Tenerife, several questions remain about how and when each passenger will get home. It is clear that the 14 Spaniards will be transferred by military plane to Madrid to quarantine at Gómez-Ulla Hospital, but the duration and what will happen if any refuse to isolate at the center are unknown. For the other 133, from 22 nationalities, it will depend on talks with their governments to pick them up. Europeans, the United States, and the United Kingdom are already reaching agreements, but much remains uncertain about what will happen with citizens of third countries. “No one [from the ship] will leave who does not go directly to the airport for their country of origin,” said Virginia Barcones, Director General of Civil Protection and Emergencies, who indicated that the Netherlands will be ultimately responsible if no consensus is reached. It is also unknown exactly how and who will handle the ship’s disinfection.
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Two Chileans who traveled on the cruise are in preventive isolation
The Chilean Ministry of Health has requested preventive isolation for two Chilean nationals who boarded the MV Hondius cruise, a vessel that registered a hantavirus outbreak and which, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), has so far resulted in three deaths and at least five suspected cases of infection. “Although both individuals have no symptoms attributable to hantavirus and are healthy, due to the ship’s situation, epidemiological monitoring including virus testing is being conducted,” the ministry explained.
“The Ministry reiterates its commitment to keep the public informed of any relevant developments in this matter,” the health authority emphasized, also reminding that the law prohibits disclosing clinical, personal, or identity information of those under epidemiological monitoring. The information was released the same day the government ruled out that the affected were exposed to the virus in Chile, as they traveled through the country “during a period not corresponding to the incubation period.” (Efe)
Good morning. Preparations for the arrival in Tenerife of the Dutch cruise where a hantavirus outbreak broke out are advancing against the clock to organize a risk-free evacuation. The Canary Islands president, Fernando Clavijo, has announced that the cruise affected by the hantavirus outbreak will not dock in the archipelago and passenger evacuation will be by boat.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, explained on Thursday that there are already five confirmed hantavirus cases and three suspected.
