The cruise ship managing a hantavirus outbreak is set to dock within hours. Four Australians are among the 140 people onboard, and a rigorous plan is in place to process the passengers and crew. However, despite assurances that the virus is low-risk for transmission, the world, in the wake of COVID-19, fears the worst is yet to come.
WHO Director General Arrives in Tenerife
World Health Organisation Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus landed in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, on Sunday morning, where the MV Hondius is set to dock at approximately 5 PM. Tedros came to assure locals that, while hantavirus has spread to eight people on the ship, killing three and leaving a fourth fighting for life, the virus remains low risk and is not another COVID-19.
But the WHO chief acknowledged the global fears around the possibility of another pandemic and the concerns of local port workers who protested on Friday about communication around protocols and a lack of security.
The concern is legitimate, because we have all experienced COVID, especially in 2020, and that turmoil is still in our minds, he said. Tedros said WHO did not make its public health assessment lightly.
Logistical Plans for Docking
Despite the low-risk, a strong logistical mission is about to play out to ensure all precautions are taken. When the MV Hondius docks in Tenerife, it will anchor offshore, and smaller boats will head out to the cruise ship to ferry passengers back to shore, where they will be medically examined at facilities set up on the docks.
Passengers who do not have any symptoms will take a 10-minute journey to the airport and board specific repatriation flights to their respective home countries. They will not be permitted to remain in Spain or book commercial flights home.
The quarantining plans for some of the 23 nations set to receive passengers have released their protocols. Some will head to quarantine facilities, others to hospitals, with one source telling CNN that the Americans will be brought back aboard a charter aircraft with a biocontainment unit, similar to those used during COVID-19 evacuations.
Australian Passengers and Government Response
The Australian government has not made clear how it plans to process the four Australian citizens and permanent resident onboard, but an Australian consular official will be on the ground in Tenerife to help get them home. Australian health authorities are also working with states and territories on quarantine, testing, and health monitoring protocols for the returning travellers under the coordination of the Australian Centre for Disease Control.
Dock workers protested the cruise ship landing location in Tenerife on Friday. There are four Australians and one permanent resident set to disembark the ship in the Canary Islands and head home on Sunday.
What We Know About the Virus
People are usually infected by hantavirus through contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings, or saliva. Human-to-human transmission is rare but can happen in cases of extremely close contact with the Andes strain detected in cruise ship patients and crew.
Although uncommon, limited human-to-human transmission has been reported in previous outbreaks of Andes virus, WHO said. Limited spread among close contacts has been observed in some previous outbreaks with the Andes strain, which has spread in South America, including Argentina, where the cruise trip started in March.
Argentine officials investigating the outbreak's origins anonymously told The Associated Press that the leading theory is that a couple contracted the virus during a bird-watching tour in the city of Ushuaia before boarding. They said the couple visited a landfill during the bird-watching tour where they may have been exposed to rodents carrying the infection.
The MV Hondius first left Ushuaia in Argentina over a month ago. The extent of passenger contact with local wildlife during the voyage, or prior to boarding in Ushuaia, remains undetermined, WHO said. On their voyage, passengers visited some of the world's most remote islands, where they would have seen a lot of wildlife, including whales, dolphins, penguins, and seabirds, according to the trip's itinerary.
Hantavirus typically incubates for one to six weeks before patients start presenting symptoms.
