The UK Government is working to repatriate British nationals on board MV Hondius as the ship prepares to sail from the coast of Cape Verde to Tenerife following a hantavirus outbreak linked to the death of three passengers.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the UK is working with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to ensure British passengers are brought back ‘safely’.
In a statement, the Minister said she is taking this action ‘with proper protection for public health’ as the UKHSA leads the UK’s response alongside the World Health Organisation (WHO).
She added: “The outbreak of hantavirus is very serious and deeply stressful for those affected and their families”.
The Minister said Foreign Office teams are ‘in direct contact’ with the 19 British passengers and four crew members still on board.
Two crew members – a 56-year-old British man, who was the ship’s doctor, and a 41-year-old Dutch national – and one passenger, a 65-year-old German national, have been medically evacuated and transported to a specialised hospital in the Netherlands. A British passenger remains in intensive care after earlier being evacuated to Johannesburg.
The WHO has confirmed the outbreak is the Andes strain of the virus, which can spread by human-to-human transmission, although this is rare.
The remaining 146 passengers and crew, including around 20 Britons, are under strict precautionary measures.
Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia said they are all currently asymptomatic. The ship is heading for Granadilla port in Tenerife, where a controlled disembarkation will take place.
She stressed procedures are being put in place to ensure passengers do not come into contact with local residents, stating there is ‘no risk’ to the Canary Islands population.
Under current plans, Spanish nationals will be taken to a military facility in Madrid for quarantine, while international passengers without symptoms will be repatriated to their home countries.
The developments come amid tension in the Canary Island, with President Fernando Clavijo criticising Madrid’s decision to allow the ship to dock in Tenerife, stating it was taken without consultation and raising concerns about potential risks to the local population.
Spain’s central Government, however, has defended the decision. In a statement, the WHO said the Canary Islands represent the nearest location with the necessary health-care capacity, adding Spain has both a ‘moral and legal obligation’ to assist those on board, including 14 Spanish citizens.
The latest update includes a newly confirmed case of a man who returned to Switzerland from South America at the end of last month, bringing the total confirmed and suspected cases to eight.
Meanwhile, KLM says one of the Dutch nationals who died from hantavirus had briefly been on board a KLM aircraft in Johannesburg. The airline said the crew didn’t allow the passenger to travel on the flight ‘due to the passenger’s medical condition at the time’.
The ship had been on a transatlantic itinerary after departing Argentina approximately a month ago.
