The ship arrived in the Canary Islands after weeks at sea in the center of an international public health response sparked by a hantavirus outbreak that has claimed three lives.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who leads a team in Tenerife, stressed that the risk to the general public remains low.
“This is not another COVID,“he told reporters during a media watch on Sunday, adding that “the risk to the public is low” and that people “should not be afraid or panic.”
There have been eight cases linked to the ship, of which six have been laboratory confirmed as hantavirus infections as of Friday, all identified as Andes virus (ANDV), although no new deaths have been recorded since May 2.
Click here to view the WHO hantavirus fact sheet
landing operation
The disembarkation operation began early in the morning, when Spanish health authorities boarded the ship to evaluate passengers and crew before transferring them ashore in stages based on nationality and flight availability.
According to the head of WHO health operations in Tenerife, Diana Rojas Álvarez, passengers and crew from Spain, France, Canada and the Netherlands were among the first groups to leave the ship.
“It has been extremely intense, but also very well organized,“he said during a WHO press conference.
Around 46 passengers and crew were expected to disembark on Sunday and operations would continue until Monday. About 30 crew members are expected to remain on board as the ship returns to the Netherlands accompanied by a medical team.
Repatriation flights
WHO officials said none of the passengers would travel on commercial flights. Instead, chartered repatriation flights are being coordinated with national authorities under strict health protocols.
Maria van Kerkhove, director of Epidemic and Pandemic Management at WHO, said passengers and crew would undergo active health monitoring for up to six weeks due to the incubation period of the virus.
“Our recommendation is active monitoring, which means daily monitoring, checking for fever or other symptoms,” he said, adding that the WHO recommends quarantine and monitoring at home or in facilities for 42 days.
“This is really a precautionary approach to make sure we don’t have any opportunity for this virus to spread to others. “We also recommend that when you get off the boat and when you are around other people that you wear a respirator, for that extra layer of protection.”
Hantavirus disease
Hantavirus is a rare disease usually linked to exposure to infected rodents and can cause severe respiratory illness. The Andes strain associated with the outbreak is the only known hantavirus strain with documented human-to-human transmission, although the WHO has said the risk of transmission remains low.
The agency said the operation in Tenerife involved close coordination between Spain, the Netherlands, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and WHO teams on the ground.
“This is what the WHO does,”said Dr. van Kerkhove, noting that the agency routinely coordinates international responses to infectious disease threats even when public attention is limited.
