The Minister of Health, Monica Garciaconfirmed this Saturday afternoon that the 14 Spaniards who remain on board the MV Hondius will undergo PCR tests upon arrival in Tenerife before being transferred to Madrid. All of them, as explained by the minister, remain asymptomatic and have voluntarily agreed to the quarantine of up to 45 days dictated by the investigating court to reduce any risk of spread. The ship, with 147 people on boardwill anchor in the port of Granadilla between 4:00 and 6:00 at dawn on Sunday, May 10, without touching the dock, and the passengers will be evacuated in inflatable boats before being distributed for immediate repatriation.
The World Health Organization today raised six the positive cases linked to the outbreak (of a total of eight suspects) and confirmed that the variant detected corresponds to the Andes strain, the only hantavirus with documented transmission between people in contexts of close and prolonged contact.
The Public Health Commission gave the definitive green light to the specific protocol for Spanish passengers, who must quarantine in the High Level Isolation Unit of the Gómez Ulla Central Defense Hospital, in Madrid. During this period, a PCR will be performed upon admission and another after seven days, in addition to daily temperature checks and continuous medical surveillance; Passengers will remain in individual rooms without the possibility of receiving visitors. If anyone develops symptoms compatible with the disease, they will be immediately transferred to the High Level Isolation and Treatment Unit (UATAN) until their clinical recovery.
The imminent arrival of the MV Hondius continues to generate a strong concern in Tenerife. Yesterday, Friday, port workers from Granadilla and Santa Cruz staged a protest against “the lack of clear information” about the security conditions of the device, and the Iustitia Europa platform has called for new rallies for tonight. To try to calm things down, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus published a message to the island’s residents assuring them that “this is not another COVID-19” and that “you will not meet the passengers; your families will not meet them.” The Ministry of the Interior has prohibited navigation within a radius of one nautical mile around the anchoring point and has ordered that the entire perimeter of the port remain completely isolated and guarded by the Civil Guard.