The Canary Islands government prohibits the entry of the liner MV Hondius due to a hantavirus outbreak. South Africa reports two cases of the Andes hantavirus, which is transmitted from person to person, associated with the ship. One passenger has died, and another is in hospital.
The regional government of Spain’s Canary Islands is opposing the permission for a luxury cruise ship, affected by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, to dock, its president Fernando Clavijo stated on Wednesday, reports UNN citing Reuters.
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“This decision is not based on any technical criteria, and there is insufficient information to reassure the public or guarantee its safety,” Clavijo told COPE radio.
He added that he had requested an urgent meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to discuss the matter. Clavijo belongs to the conservative People’s Party, the main opposition to Sanchez’s socialists.
Earlier on Wednesday, Spanish public broadcaster TVE reported, citing sources from the country’s health ministry, that the cruise liner was expected to dock near the Canary island of Tenerife.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the South African Minister of Health presented information to parliament regarding the detection of the Andes hantavirus strain, which is transmitted from person to person, in two individuals who disembarked from a cruise ship affected by the disease outbreak.
The vessel MV Hondius was preparing for its journey from Cabo Verde to Europe on Wednesday after the Spanish government had granted permission for its docking in the Canary Islands.
A presentation seen by Reuters indicated that tests conducted by South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) showed that “the Andes strain was the cause of infection in a Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg and a British national who remains hospitalized.” Both had fallen ill on the ship.
“This is the only strain known to cause human-to-human transmission, but such transmission is very rare and, as previously stated, occurs only through very close contact,” the statement read.
Other strains of hantavirus are more commonly transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings, or saliva.