WHO boss arrives in Spain to oversee ship evacuation amid more suspected hantavirus cases
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO chief, is in charge of MV Hondius’ evacuation; latest patient sat on plane near woman infected during cruise
Two new suspected cases of hantavirus were reported on Friday, one in Spain and the other on the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha, as experts race to contain an outbreak that began on a luxury cruise ship.
The announcements in locations thousands of kilometres apart will fuel concern about a cluster of cases so far associated with three deaths, although the World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly said the risk to the wider public is low and the virus does not transmit easily.
WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus arrived in Spain on Saturday to oversee the evacuation of the MV Hondius’ passengers and crew.
The ship is currently heading to Tenerife, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa. Those on board will be screened and disembarked under new guidelines still being finalised by WHO and other health officials.
The latest reports of possible cases involved a man who fell ill after leaving the ship and a woman who became sick after sitting near an infected cruise passenger on a plane.
A 32-year-old woman in the southeastern Spanish province of Alicante has symptoms consistent with a hantavirus infection and is being tested, Spanish health authorities said.