The EU is working day and night with experts to define clear quarantine guidance for countries ahead of passengers disembarking from a cruise ship with a hantavirus outbreak in Spain this weekend.
The MV Hondius is off the coast of Morocco, traveling north in the Atlantic Ocean, and is due to arrive in Tenerife in the early hours of Sunday morning. From there, it will anchor in the port of Granadilla, where passengers whose countries have arranged flights home for them will be taken directly to their planes.
“The Commission is working around the clock with all relevant partners,” including national authorities, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the World Health Organization and the G7, a spokesperson told POLITICO in an email.
The aim is “to ensure a science-based response,” the spokesperson added. “Safeguarding public health is our absolute priority.”
One of the key decisions countries and disease experts are working on is “defining quarantine guidelines and protocols,” the Commission spokesperson continued.
They are also establishing support measures for EU countries and their citizens, assessing transport and medical evacuation needs to help Spain, and ensuring cooperation between health, civil protection, and international partners to protect citizens, the spokesperson added.
There are around 150 people, including passengers and staff, aboard the ship at the moment, and none of them is displaying any symptoms, the ship’s operator Oceanwide Expeditions said Friday.
Hantavirus is a disease typically spread by infected rats. So far, there have been five confirmed cases of the Andes subtype linked to the cruise ship. It is the only variant known to have spread among humans, usually through close, prolonged contact.
Three people who were on the cruise ship have died.
Thirty-two people (including two who died) disembarked the ship on April 24 on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Countries and public health agencies are working to track their whereabouts.
On Friday, Spain reported a new suspected case in Alicante, as did the U.K. — the third suspected British case.
Meanwhile, a Dutch flight attendant suspected of having caught the virus tested negative.
The Netherlands is taking a leading role in coordinating public health measures and evacuations since the ship sails under a Dutch flag.
“Everyone involved, both in the Netherlands and abroad, is working hard to organize the arrival of this cruise ship in a safe manner,” Prime Minister Rob Jetten said Friday during a press conference.
“Naturally, the health of the passengers is a priority in this regard, as is ensuring the virus does not get the chance to spread further.”
He said they were working out what measures were needed to bring the Dutch passengers home “safely and as soon as possible.”
Jetten was also at pains to stress this was not like the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This virus is completely incomparable to corona. It is truly a different situation, namely a known virus, where we know what to do to control it. And at the same time, of course, we have also learned a lot from that corona pandemic. And all those lessons are being applied immediately.”
Sonja Rijnen contributed reporting.
