RACE AGAINST TIME
A plane arrived in the Netherlands with dozens of people, including Belgian, Greek, German, Guatemalan and Argentine citizens, while flights for Canadian, Turkish, British, Irish and US nationals also left.
Canary Islands authorities have warned that the operation must be completed by Monday, when adverse weather conditions will force the ship to leave.
The Atlantic archipelago’s regional government has consistently resisted taking in the ship, which was only authorised to anchor offshore instead of docking in the port when it arrived early on Sunday morning.
The central government has insisted there will be no contact with the population in Tenerife.
The World Health Organization recommends a 42-day quarantine and “active follow-up”, including daily checks for symptoms such as fever, the UN body’s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention director, Maria Van Kerkhove, said in Geneva.
Greece’s health ministry said a Greek male evacuee would spend 45 days in mandatory hospital quarantine in Athens, while 14 Spanish citizens will also isolate at a military hospital in Madrid.
But a top US health official said American passengers will not necessarily be quarantined at a specialised centre in the state of Nebraska.
Depending on the estimated risk, passengers can choose to go home “without exposing other people on the way”, said Jay Bhattacharya, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who was on Tenerife to help supervise the evacuations, said that the policy “may have risks”.
INTERNATIONAL CONCERN
The only hantavirus type that is transmissible between humans – the Andes virus – has been confirmed among those who have tested positive, fuelling international concern.
The WHO said Friday it had confirmed six cases out of eight suspected ones.
The MV Hondius left Ushuaia, Argentina on Apr 1 for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde, where three infected people had been evacuated to Europe earlier in the week.
The WHO believes the first infection occurred before the start of the expedition, followed by transmission between humans onboard the vessel.
But Argentine provincial health official Juan Petrina has said there was an “almost zero chance” the Dutch man linked to the outbreak contracted the disease in Ushuaia based on the virus’s weeks-long incubation period, among other factors.
Health authorities in several countries have been tracking passengers who had already disembarked and anyone who may have come into contact with them.