The regional government of Spain's Canary Islands opposes granting port entry to a luxury cruise ship affected by an outbreak of the deadly hantavirus, its head Fernando Clavijo said on Wednesday, UNN reports, citing Reuters.
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"This decision is not based on any technical criteria, and there is insufficient information to reassure the public or guarantee their safety," Clavijo told the COPE radio station.
He added that he had requested an urgent meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to discuss the matter. Clavijo belongs to the conservative People's Party, the main opposition to Sánchez's Socialists.
Earlier on Wednesday, Spanish state broadcaster TVE reported, citing sources in the country's health ministry, that the cruise liner is scheduled to dock off the Canary Island of Tenerife.
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Meanwhile, on Wednesday, South Africa's health minister presented information to parliament regarding the detection of the Andes hantavirus strain, which is transmitted from person to person, in two people who disembarked from the cruise ship affected by the outbreak.
The vessel MV Hondius was preparing for a voyage from Cape Verde to Europe on Wednesday after the Spanish government gave permission for it to dock in the Canary Islands.
A presentation seen by Reuters stated that tests conducted by South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) showed that "the Andes strain was the cause of infection in a Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg and a British man who is still in the hospital." Both fell ill on the ship.
"This is the only strain known to cause person-to-person transmission, but such transmission is very rare and, as previously stated, occurs only through very close contact," the report said.
Other hantavirus strains are more commonly transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings, or saliva.