A summary of today's developments
Authorities around the world are racing to trace dozens of passengers who disembarked from the cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak before isolation measures were implemented. It emerged for the first time on Thursday that at least 29 passengers of 12 nationalities left the MV Hondius on 24 April after the first fatality, prompting a scramble to identify and track their movements since then.
World Health Organization experts stressed the hantavirus cruise outbreak was “not the start of Covid pandemic” as they pointed several differences between the two viruses and insisted the public health risk remained low.
Spain’s head of civil protection, Virginia Barcones, provided details at a press conference in Madrid about what those on board the cruise ship can expect after arriving in the Canary Islands at around midday on Sunday. She said: “From the moment when we see that asymptomatic people are ready to be evacuated from our country, there will be a quick process. They will not leave the boat until the plane is there to take them to their countries. Once they leave the boat, they will be taken by road, it’s about a 10-minute drive.” Barcones added: “Mechanisms are being put together, but they will be completely isolated from the public.
Fernando Clavijo, the regional president of the Canaries, said he persuaded the central government not to allow the MV Hondius to dock in Tenerife. Clavijo had objected over the boat’s arrival, saying it could threaten public health in the archipelago, and had demanded a meeting with the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez.
After a meeting between Pope Leo and US secretary of state Marco Rubio earlier today, the Vatican said the pair “renewed the shared commitment” for good relations between the US and the Vatican.
Authorities around the world are racing to trace dozens of passengers who disembarked from the cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak before isolation measures were implemented, writes Rory Carroll and Sam Jones.
It emerged for the first time on Thursday that at least 29 passengers of 12 nationalities left the MV Hondius on 24 April after the first fatality, prompting a scramble to identify and track their movements since then.
However, the World Health Organization ruled out any Covid-scale crisis. “This is not the start of an epidemic. This is not the start of a pandemic. This is not Covid,” Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the agency’s director for epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention, told reporters.
The WHO said that five of the eight suspected cases linked to the ship had been confirmed and that other cases may be identified.
“Given the incubation period of the Andes virus, which can be up to six weeks, it’s possible that more cases may be reported,” the organisation’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a news conference. “While this is a serious incident, WHO assesses the public health risk low.”
