Passengers aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius have been evacuated after a serious hantavirus outbreak was confirmed. On Sunday, travelers began departing Tenerife on military and government-arranged flights bound for their home countries.
The evacuation was conducted under strict health and safety procedures. Crew members in full protective suits and respirators helped escort passengers off the vessel, while many of the travelers were also seen wearing protective equipment.
The operation involves people from more than 20 different countries and is expected to take several days to complete. Spanish nationals were the first to leave the ship, flying to Madrid, while French passengers were flown to Paris, where medical teams were on standby to receive them.
In a separate development, an American passenger on board has tested positive for hantavirus.
U.S. passenger confirmed with hantavirus
Seventeen American citizens were aboard the ship and are now being repatriated to the United States. As of Sunday, at least one of them had tested positive, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The infected individual is expected to be transferred to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit upon arrival in the U.S., ABC News reports.
Despite the scale of the incident, the World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the risk to the general public remains low. While the virus is not easily transmitted between people, the strain involved can, in rare cases, spread human-to-human.
Passengers will now be monitored in their home countries, with several governments preparing quarantine measures and follow-up health checks in the coming weeks
