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France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands will send planes to repatriate their citizens on a Tenerife-bound cruise ship that was hit by a hantavirus outbreak, Spain said on Saturday.
The European Union is sending two additional planes for remaining European citizens, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said during a briefing in Madrid.
Meanwhile, the US and UK are preparing planes and contingency plans for non-EU citizens from countries unable to send airlifts.
Hantavirus is a disease that is usually spread by infected rats. As of Friday, there were a total of six confirmed cases of a variant of hantavirus, called the "Andean" subtype, linked to the cruise ship and two probable cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The Andean subtype is the only variant known to spread between people.
The WHO has tried to calm fears that the outbreak could trigger a global health emergency on the scale of Covid-19. The Spanish government's plans to allow the cruise ship, the MV Hondius, to dock in Tenerife have provoked controversy, including among the leaders of the Canary Islands.
The ship will dock in Tenerife. Passengers will then be transported to the industrial port of Granadilla and transported in closed and guarded vehicles, through a fully fenced corridor before being repatriated directly to their countries of origin, according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Ghebreyesus will travel to Tenerife with Spain's interior and health ministers to coordinate the arrival of the cruise ship. Ghebreyesus addressed Tenerife residents live via social media on Saturday, acknowledging their fears while stressing that "this is not another Covid."
"The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low ," Ghebreyesus said.
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