Main PointsSpain has begun the evacuation process of passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship anchored near TenerifeHealth officials boarding the boat are to conduct a final check and begin disembarking passengers, Spain’s health ministry saidIreland was among the countries sending a plane to evacuate its own citizens from the ship, which was subject of fatal outbreakDepartment of Health says it understands that the two Irish passengers on board the ship “are currently well”Key ReadsExplainer: What next for Irish passengers on board MV Hondius?Jennifer O’Connell: If MV Hondius isn’t the start of a hantavirus pandemic, it might prove the end of something else
Emmet Malone – 3 minutes ago
Planned monitoring essential to control outbreak but further spread highly unlikely, says public health expert
The lengthy period of close monitoring planned for passengers after they leave the ship for repatriation is absolutely essential, Daniel López Acuña, adjunct professor of the Andalusian School of Public Health and a former Senior Official of the World Health Organisation told the BBC World Service on Sunday morning.
“It is essential to the epidemiologic control of this outbreak to ensure proper quarantine over a period of up to six weeks of the people on the ship,” he said.
“They may not have any symptoms right now, but they may develop the disease because of this long period of time, they may have been in contact with some of the people, the eight people so far that have been affected and have died or are hospitalised or are in very critical condition. Let’s remember that this particular strain produces a disease has a case fatality rate of between 30 to 40 per cent.”
He said that while transmission between people is possible it would almost certainly require persistent close or intimate contact and accident transmission from this point would was not expected given the precautions being taken.
Emmet Malone – 48 minutes ago
Disembarkation begins
A first group of passengers, all Spanish nationals, has begun to disembark into a small boat from the cruise ship which was hit by a hantavirus outbreak and is headed to Tenerife’s Port of Granadilla, Spain’s health ministry said.
The passengers will be transported directly from the port in military buses to the airport and evacuated by a Spanish government plane to Madrid where they will taken to hospital and quarantined, officials have said. -Reuters
Emmet Malone – 56 minutes ago
Isolation
While nobody onboard the vessel has symptoms, passengers and crew have been confined to their cabins in the last few days to help halt the spread of the virus, which is only transmitted through very close contact. They will each be screened for hantavirus, which can cause flu-like symptoms leading to respiratory arrest and death, in some cases.
They are being asked to isolate for 42 days from their point of potential exposure, which for most of the passengers will be many days ago.
Authorities have sought to make clear that the virus, though serious, would not result in another pandemic.
However, the director general of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was asked at a press conference in Tenerife late on Saturday night whether allowing passengers to travel all over the world and relying on them to self-isolate with no oversight could cause further outbreaks. “Based on our assessment, what you have said is not going to happen,” he told the media. -Guardian
Emmet Malone – 1 hour ago
British plan
A specialist British army team and medical personnel have been parachuted on to the British overseas territory of Tristan da Cunha with medical aid and equipment after a British national who lives on the south Atlantic island disembarked with a suspected case of hantavirus.
Six paratroopers, a Royal Air Force consultant and an army nurse parachuted, while oxygen supplies and medical aid were dropped on to the remote island, which is normally only accessible by boat.
The British ministry for defence said it was the first time medical personnel had been parachuted in to provide humanitarian support.
Remaining UK passengers who are evacuated from Tenerife will be taken on a charter flight to Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, a peninsula near Liverpool. The facility is relatively isolated and was used as the UK’s first Covid quarantine site. -PA
Emmet Malone – 1 hour ago
Order of operations
Countries including Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the US, UK and the Netherlands confirmed on Saturday they had sent planes to evacuate their citizens aboard, though local government officials in the Canaries said not all planes had arrived by Sunday morning.
Passengers will not leave the boat until their allocated evacuation plane has arrived, Spanish officials said.
Passengers from the Netherlands will be the next group to leave the vessel, and their plane will also transport passengers from Germany, Belgium and Greece, Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said on Sunday.
After that, passengers from Turkey, France, the UK and US will be evacuated, the minister added, speaking to reporters at the port of Tenerife.
“The final flight of the operation is departing from Australia… It is the most complex flight and is scheduled to arrive tomorrow afternoon,” Garcia said, adding that the final flight would pick up six people from Australia, New Zealand and Asian countries.
Ireland was not mentioned specifically by Garcia.
Thirty crew members will remain on board and sail to the Netherlands where the ship will be disinfected. -Reuters
Emmet Malone – 1 hour ago
Department of Health statement
Here’s the full Department of Health statement.
The situation with regard to the MV Hondius is evolving and is being monitored closely by the Department of Health (DoH) and the National Health Protection Office (NHPO) in the Health Service Executive (HSE), working with international partners including the European Commission, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), EU Member States and also our colleagues in Northern Ireland.
We understand that the cruise ship MV Hondius is currently expected to dock in Tenerife early on Sunday 10th May. We understand that the two Irish passengers are currently well. Public health protocols will be followed once the ship has docked with regard to certification and assessment of the health of passengers. This will be overseen by the ECDC and the Spanish authorities.
Repatriation plans have been put in place by the Irish Government to transfer the two Irish passengers directly from Tenerife to Ireland upon disembarkation, contingent on their health status. On arrival in Ireland, they will be safely transferred to a HSE facility. They will need to quarantine for a period of time, in line with ECDC guidance and will be actively monitored during this time. If they become symptomatic, they will be assessed and treated as appropriate.
The EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre has arranged for a Medevac aircraft to be available in Tenerife for any passenger that becomes symptomatic and needs medical evacuation. In the event that one or both of the Irish passengers becomes symptomatic before disembarkation, they will be medically evacuated on this aircraft.
Both the ECDC and WHO have classified the corresponding risk to public health from Hantavirus at the lowest level provided for within their respective assessment frameworks.
The National Incident Management Team of the NHPO has been stood up and is coordinating the public health response to ensure optimal patient care and safety for those affected by this Hantavirus outbreak, and to protect broader public health.
DoH is working closely with colleagues across Government and in the HSE and our European partners to ensure the safe repatriation of the Irish passengers, critical care pathway and adherence to ECDC guidelines.
Emmet Malone – 1 hour ago
How it works for the Irish passengers
The Spanish authorities said yesterday that Ireland was among the countries sending a plane to evacuate its own citizens.
We asked the Department of Health yesterday evening for an update on how things would world.
In short, the Irish passengers of the MV Hondius will first face public health protocols and then will be returned to Ireland, by a specialist European Medevac plane if they have become symptomatic.
When they get back to Ireland, they will be taken to a HSE facility to quarantine for a period.
Emmet Malone – 1 hour ago
Evacuation begins
Spain has begun the evacuation process of passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship anchored near Tenerife on Sunday with health officials boarding the boat to conduct a final check and begin disembarking passengers, Spain’s health ministry said.
The first group of passengers, who are Spanish nationals, will be taken back to shore on small boats and immediately transferred into sealed buses to the local airport where they will fly back to Madrid on a Spanish government plane, government officials said, emphasising they will have no contact with members of the public. -Reuters