90-Second Read: Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship arrives in Tenerife

The cruise ship at the center of a deadly Hantavirus outbreak arrived early Sunday off the Spanish island of Tenerife, where the process of sending most passengers back to their home countries will get underway. TENERIFE, Spain — The cruise ship at the center of a deadly Hantavirus outbreak arrived early Sunday off the Spanish island of Tenerife, where the process of sending passengers back to their home countries will get underway. The Hondius has had six passengers with confirmed cases of Hantavirus and two with suspected cases, the World Health Organization said Friday. The Dutch-owned ship, along with some crew and the passengers' luggage, will continue on the five-day journey to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, according to cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions. The current public health risk from Hantavirus remains.

On May 2, a month after the ship left Ushuaia, Argentina, "a cluster of passengers with severe respiratory illness" on board was reported to the WHO, the health organization said. Two days later, Hantavirus was confirmed in a passenger who had been medically evacuated to a hospital in South Africa, the company said. Hantavirus can have a fatality rate of around 40%-50%, the WHO says, and the elderly are particularly at risk. The ship, the MV Hondius, could be seen in the distance around 5:30 a.m. Of the group of viruses, only the Andes — the strain in the Hondius case — is known to spread between people, but those people usually have very close contact with each other, according to the WHO.

The body of a person who died on board will also remain on the ship, which will undergo a disinfection process in the Netherlands, Spanish Minister of Health Mónica García said. Health officials have stressed that the risk to the global population and to the residents of Tenerife, off the coast of West Africa, is low. In a message to Tenerife residents Saturday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed concerns about the risk of spread. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now." People get Hantavirus through contact with rodents, especially when exposed to their urine, droppings and saliva. Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.

At that point, "the cause of death was unknown and there was no evidence of a virus or contagion on board. Phil Helsel reported from Los Angeles, and Mo Abbas and Daniele Hamamdjian from Tenerife. ET) from the Granadilla Port, where a medical tent was set up overnight. Three of those people have died, officials said, including two who died while aboard the ship. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment, Tedros said.