The French Minister of Health, Stéphanie Rist, has confirmed that one of the five French nationals repatriated from the MV Hondius has tested positive for the virus. It is a woman who showed symptoms. “Her condition worsened overnight,” Rist specified. She is currently “in a hospital specialized in infectious diseases,” the minister added. The US has also reported one positive case and another symptomatic case. However, the Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, clarified that this citizen had a weak positive result in the test: “What we consider inconclusive.” The US wanted to treat it as positive out of caution. The symptomatic US case would be, according to Padilla, “a lady who had a cough” and now presents “anxiety” and “hoarseness,” but “not conclusive symptoms.” The disembarkation operations of the ship are expected to conclude this Monday. The last repatriation flight will depart in the afternoon. The 14 Spaniards who were on the ship are already in Madrid. Padilla explained that the quarantine will start counting from May 6 and will extend for 42 days until June 17.
- Photo gallery | The cruise ship ‘MV Hondius’ arrives in Tenerife
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United Kingdom transfers its 22 evacuees, all asymptomatic, to a hospital
UK authorities confirmed this Monday that 22 people evacuated on Sunday from the MV Hondius cruise ship in Tenerife have already arrived in the country and have been admitted to a hospital in Merseyside County, before emphasizing that all of them will undergo tests in the coming hours to determine if they are infected with hantavirus, although none currently show symptoms.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) stated in a release that the group includes 20 British nationals, a German resident in the UK, and a Japanese citizen — evacuated at Tokyo’s request — and confirmed that all are now admitted to Arrowe Park Hospital.
“During the next 72 hours, passengers will undergo tests and clinical analyses,” the agency said, adding that during this period specialists “will determine their current status” and “where they can be isolated.” “Passengers will be asked to remain in isolation for 45 days,” it detailed. (EP)
Clavijo does not consider bridges broken and will assist with the ‘MV Hondius’ but is considering appealing
The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo (CC), stated this Monday that he will not break relations with the Spanish Government despite the evident disagreements in assisting the MV Hondius cruise ship, in which they plan to continue “lending a hand,” although they are considering going to court.
“The Government of the Canary Islands never breaks relations with other institutions. We may have political differences and it will be the day after when we see and analyze them, but institutions (…) must always keep bridges open for the general interest of the citizen,” Clavijo said on Cadena Ser.
The Canarian president lamented that the reasons of the autonomous community to oppose the MV Hondius anchoring in Granadilla, Tenerife, to evacuate its passengers have been reduced to “a meme” (the swimming mice), but stressed that his government is “lending a hand and doing everything asked to make the operation a success and for the ship to leave as soon as possible.” (Efe)
Guterres praises Spain’s “close coordination” with WHO
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has praised Spain’s “close coordination” — a country to which he expressed his support — with the World Health Organization (WHO) in their joint management of the hantavirus outbreak.
“While the risk of the virus to the public is low, it is important that international efforts ensure the safety of passengers and crew of the MV Hondius,” Guterres concluded in his message on X.
Quarantine for Spaniards starts counting from May 6
The Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, indicated that the quarantine for passengers of the ‘MV Hondius’ will start counting from May 6, following analyses of passenger contacts conducted jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and the Spanish Center for Health Alerts and Emergencies. From that moment, “those 42 days would need to be extended,” Padilla said in statements to ‘La Hora de la 1’ on TVE. The first week will be “stricter” in respecting the quarantine, depending on the results of the first and second PCR tests, which have not yet arrived. Later, the situation will be reassessed day by day and week by week.
The Secretary of State for Health clarifies the US positive case
The Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, has clarified the news from the US about a positive hantavirus case and a symptomatic contact. According to him, the ECDC specialist who boarded the ship tested the highest-risk contacts, and this US citizen had a weak positive: “What we consider inconclusive.” The US Department of Health refers to it as ‘mildly PCR positive,’ which could be translated as weak positive, but it is not a usual category. Padilla explained on ‘La Hora de la 1’ that for them this result is not positive, but the US CDC wanted to treat it as such to be more cautious, and he disembarked from the cruise only in a boat with his symptomatic compatriot.
This symptomatic case would be, according to Padilla, “a lady who had a cough” and now presents “anxiety” and “hoarseness,” but “not conclusive symptoms.” Both cruise passengers are on their way to observation at a health center in Nebraska.
France confirms a positive case among one of its repatriates
The French Minister of Health, Stéphanie Rist, has confirmed that one of her five citizens repatriated from the MV Hondius has tested positive for the virus; it is a woman who has shown symptoms, according to Le Figaro.
“Her condition worsened overnight,” Rist specified. She is currently “in a hospital specialized in infectious diseases,” the minister added in an interview on the radio France Inter.
Rist added that so far they have “identified 22 close contact cases” in France. These 22 were on the April 25 flights connecting the British territory of Saint Helena with Johannesburg and the one connecting Johannesburg with Amsterdam. These people have been asked to contact health authorities.
The other four French passengers of the MV Hondius have been hospitalized in rooms designed for this type of patient and accompanied by “health personnel trained to care for contagious patients,” the Minister of Health indicated. So far, tests on these four passengers have been negative. (Reuters)
Second negative PCR for hantavirus in woman isolated in Alicante hospital
The woman isolated in a hospital in Alicante on suspicion of hantavirus after coinciding on a plane with an infected woman who traveled on the MV Hondius cruise ship and who died has tested negative for this disease in the second PCR test performed, the Health Department reported this Sunday.
The woman has been placed in quarantine and, following an update from the Ministry of Health on the initial criteria, will remain hospitalized in the same Alicante hospital, according to the same source. After an update from the Ministry of Health on the initial criteria, it was conveyed this morning to the Health Department that “the indicated course is for the woman to continue in isolation in the negative pressure room of the Alicante hospital where she is admitted and to repeat the diagnostic test in 48 hours.” (Efe)
US confirms one positive hantavirus case and another symptomatic among its repatriates
US authorities reported this Sunday that one of their nationals repatriated from the luxury cruise MV Hondius, affected by a hantavirus outbreak, tested “mildly positive” in the PCR test for the Andes strain of this respiratory infection, and another presents “mild symptoms.”
They are two of the 17 US citizens repatriated from the mentioned cruise, who, according to a statement from the US Department of Health and Human Services, “are currently en route to the United States on a State Department flight,” both traveling “in the biocontainment units” of the aircraft “as a precaution.”
Specifically, the plane will transfer the passengers to the Regional Emerging Pathogens Treatment Center (RESPTC), located at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in the central US, before taking those with “mild” symptoms to a second such center at their final destination. The health authority also emphasized that upon arrival at each center “each person” will undergo a clinical evaluation and receive appropriate care and support according to their condition. (EP)
Guardia Civil officer dies of a heart attack during cruise operation
A 62-year-old Guardia Civil officer died this afternoon at the port of Granadilla de Abona, Tenerife, after suffering a heart attack during the disembarkation operation of passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship. According to the professional association Jucil via the social network X, the agent was assigned to the headquarters of the Tenerife Command.
In this operation assisting passengers of the cruise where a hantavirus outbreak was declared, the deceased was on reserve at the operational command post. Medical teams present on the dock tried to resuscitate him for 40 minutes but could not save his life. (Efe)
Hantavirus
An unprecedented operation ends the cruise crisis with the hantavirus outbreak
After 40 days at sea, the MV Hondius entered the port of Granadilla de Abona, south of Tenerife, this Sunday at 6:00 am. On board, 152 people who experienced a hantavirus outbreak of the Andes variant on the cruise, with three deaths so far, amid great international attention. On land, political authorities and more than 300 accredited journalists from 60 media outlets witnessed an evacuation operation involving 23 countries and a chain of controversies and political tensions that culminated just hours earlier with the Canary Islands Government’s snub. “Today is the day to talk about national pride,” summarized the Minister of Health, Mónica García, who described the plan deployed as an “unprecedented operation.” “It is also the pride of the Canarian population,” García said. “We are not only prepared, but the World Health Organization holds us as an example and as trainers for other countries.”
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Good morning. The Spanish Government and the World Health Organization conclude the disembarkation operation of the Hondius cruise ship this Monday after the hantavirus outbreak declared on board during its South Atlantic crossing, with the departure of two groups of people who will take flights to the Netherlands and Australia, after which the ship is expected to head to Rotterdam.
Meanwhile, in Madrid, the Spanish passengers of the cruise are spending their first night at the Gómez Ulla military hospital, where they arrived asymptomatic on Sunday afternoon to undergo quarantine and are being subjected to strict clinical monitoring.
