90-Second Read: Cruise ship hit by Hantavirus outbreak arrives in Tenerife

The cruise ship hit by a deadly Hantavirus outbreak has arrived near the Port of Granadilla in Tenerife in the Canary Islands. The ship had left for Tenerife on Wednesday from the coast of Cape Verde after the World Health Organization (WHO) and European Union asked Spain to manage the evacuation of its passengers after the Hantavirus outbreak was detected. A flight attendant on the Dutch airline KLM, who came into contact with an infected passenger from the cruise ship and later showed mild symptoms, tested negative for the Hantavirus, the WHO said on Friday. Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents but can in rare cases be transmitted person to person. All passengers on the luxury cruise ship are being considered high-risk contacts as a precautionary measure, Europe's public health.

In Tenerife, the passengers will be tested by Spanish health authorities to ensure they remain asymptomatic and will then be transported to land in small boats, according to Spanish officials. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived on Saturday evening in Tenerife with Spain's interior and health ministers and its minister for territorial policy to coordinate the arrival of the ship. The passenger, the wife of the first person to die in the outbreak, had briefly been on a plane bound from Johannesburg to the Netherlands on April 25 but was removed before takeoff. Six of these people are confirmed to have contracted the virus with another two suspected cases, the WHO said. Sealed-off buses will take the passengers to the Spanish island's main airport about 10 minutes away, where.

He gave people in Tenerife assurances and thanked them for their solidarity. The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde. Argentinian provincial health official Juan Petrina said there was an "almost zero chance" the Dutch man linked to the outbreak contracted the disease in Ushuaia based on the virus's incubation period, among other factors. Spanish authorities said a woman on that flight was also being tested for the Hantavirus after having developed symptoms at home in eastern Spain. Spanish nationals are set to disembark first with other nationalities to follow in groups, government officials said.

The evacuation is expected to begin between 7:30am and 8:30am (06:30 and 07:00 GMT), according to Spanish authorities. There are worries there could be a danger, but honestly, I don't see people being very concerned," David Parada, a lottery vendor, told the AFP news agency. Health authorities in several countries have been tracking passengers who had already disembarked and anyone who may have come into contact with them. She is in isolation in hospital, Secretary of State for Health Javier Padilla said. British health authorities also said on Friday that there was a suspected case on Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic, one of the world's most isolated settlements with about 220 residents.