Liner with hantavirus outbreak requested landing in Tenerife on Saturday
Kyiv • UNN
The liner MV Hondius, with a hantavirus outbreak, will arrive in Tenerife on May 9 for evacuation. Canary Islands authorities criticize the delay in the repatriation of passengers.
In Spain, authorities have confirmed that a cruise ship where a hantavirus outbreak was detected will arrive in the Canary Islands in three days, UNN reports, citing 20minutos.
Details
The head of the regional government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, informed the media from Brussels, where he was attending a meeting with the EU, that the cruise line responsible for the hantavirus outbreak has requested permission from the Canary Islands Port Authority to dock at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on May 9. Clavijo stated that the Canary Islands government is currently reviewing this request.
The President of the Canary Islands expressed regret that the Canary Islands government was not allowed to participate in the inter-ministerial meeting at the Moncloa Palace to coordinate the health crisis response.
"We still do not have a clear understanding of the condition of the passengers (on the cruise liner) and do not understand why, if the intention is to carry out repatriation, it is not happening from Praia Airport (Cape Verde), but instead, passengers are being subjected to a three-day ordeal to reach a Canary Islands port for evacuation by plane, when it could be done from Praia," he noted.
The country's government also confirmed that the cruise ship where the hantavirus outbreak occurred will dock at the port of Tenerife to disembark passengers and repatriate everyone by air. This decision was made after three patients with suspected hantavirus, who remained on board the cruise ship MV Hondius, were evacuated and are now en route to the Netherlands.