Spanish passengers start disembarkation from ship hit by hantavirus
Why this matters: local context for readers following news across Pakistan and the region.
Spain said it had begun bringing Spanish passengers ashore from the cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak on Sunday, with groups of nationals from other countries to follow. The ship anchored near the Spanish island of Tenerife earlier in the day. Spanish nationals were the first to disembark on small boats in groups of five and be taken to shore, where they were transferred onto buses and taken to the local airport. The passengers, who are not showing any symptoms of the virus, will board a flight back to Madrid on a Spanish military plane and be taken to a hospital to be quarantined, government officials said, emphasising that they will have no contact with members of the public. The luxury cruise ship left for Spain on Wednesday from the coast of Cape Verde after the World Health Organisation (WHO) and European Union asked the country to manage the evacuation of passengers following the detection of a hantavirus outbreak. No rodents detected on the ship Countries including Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the US, UK and the Netherlands confirmed on Saturday they had sent planes to evacuate their citizens aboard the ship, though local government officials in the Canaries said not all planes had arrived by Sunday morning. The WHO said in an update on Friday that eight people no longer on the ship had fallen ill, including three who died — a Dutch couple and a German national; of the eight, six are confirmed to have contracted the virus, with another two suspected cases. It has recommended a 42-day quarantine period for passengers aboard the ship starting from Sunday. Spain’s health ministry said in a report that the ship had passed the appropriate health checks: “There are more than 500 cruise ships a year that come from Argentina and Chile, which is home to the virus, and yet an outbreak of this illness has never happened in the European territory, so the possibility it happens in relation to this ship is remote.” Hantavirus is usually spread by rodents, but