Spain Set to Receive Hantavirus-Linked Cruise Ship Today

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus travelled to Tenerife on Saturday to personally oversee the disembarkation, alongside Spain's Health Minister Monica García and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, an unusually high-profile show of force from global health leadership. WHO's Maria Van Kerkhove confirmed that plans are in place to disembark all remaining passengers and crew on Sunday , with repatriation flights set to begin transporting people home on Sunday and Monday . Passengers will be ferried off the ship in groups via small boats, with every individual undergoing a thorough screening and exposure assessment upon disembarkation.

Crucially, everyone on board remains asymptomatic as of May 9 , according to Van Kerkhove, offering a measure of cautious relief. The confirmed case count now stands at six confirmed and two suspected cases , with three deaths , two of which have been confirmed as caused by the Andes virus .

Repatriation flights are being arranged for passengers from the US, UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands . Spain activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, making two aircraft available, with disembarkation to proceed by nationality. After Spanish and other passengers disembark, the Hondius will set sail for the Netherlands, where it will undergo full disinfection .

On the American front, the CDC has classified the outbreak at its lowest emergency response level, Level 3 and has issued a Health Alert Network advisory urging doctors nationwide to remain vigilant for potential imported cases, while emphasising that the risk to the broader US public remains extremely low . President Trump, for his part, maintained his characteristically breezy posture, saying the situation is "very much, we hope, under control," adding that "a lot of great people are studying it" and that a full report would be forthcoming. Tedros, meanwhile, took a more measured line, posting that "the risk for the population of the Canary Islands and globally remains low" while pledging continued active monitoring and coordination with member states.