Groups of passengers and crew has disembarked from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak on Sunday, to be evacuated to their respective countries in a process overseen by global health officials and expected to last until Monday.
The passengers, none of whom were showing symptoms of the virus, were taken to Tenerife airport in military buses to be evacuated from the island in government planes sent by their respective countries, government officials said, emphasising that they will have no contact with the public.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a 42-day quarantine for all passengers from the boat from Sunday.
Planes for the Spanish and French nationals had departed by 1130 GMT. Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, Turkey, Ireland, and the United States were listed by Spanish health minister Monica Garcia as the next countries to evacuate their citizens, with the Dutch plane also due to take Germans, Belgians and Greeks.
READ ALSO:Hantavirus Outbreak Forces Cruise Ship Quarantine Near Tenerife
A plane from Australia which would transport its citizens as well as passengers from New Zealand and other unspecified Asian countries was due to land on Monday and depart by the afternoon, Garcia said.
Hantavirus, which is usually spread by rodents but can in rare cases be transmitted person-to-person, was first detected on May 2, 21 days after the first passenger died, by South African health officials testing a British man who was in intensive care. Two other passengers have died since.
The luxury cruise ship left for Spain on Wednesday from the coast of Cape Verde after the WHO and European Union asked the country to manage the evacuation of passengers after the hantavirus outbreak was detected.
The agency said the first case may have been infected before boarding, possibly during travel in Argentina and Chile, with later spread likely occurring on the ship.
The WHO said in an update on Friday that eight people no longer on the ship had fallen ill, including the three who died – a Dutch couple and a German national. Of the eight, six are confirmed to have contracted the virus.
Reuters
