World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanomis in Spain to oversee the safe disembarkation of the passengers, crew members and health experts from the Hantavirus-hit MV Hondius cruise ship.
Tedros, together with Spanish health and interior ministers, will travel to Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands, off West Africa, to ensure coordination between administrations, health control, and the application of the planned surveillance and response protocols.
Tedros will join Spanish health and interior ministers at a command post on the island “to ensure coordination between administrations, health control, and the application of the planned surveillance and response protocols.
“I arrived in #Spain, where I will join senior government officials in a mission to Tenerife to oversee safe disembarkation of the passengers, crew members and health experts from MV Hondius cruise ship”, he said on X.
Regional authorities said the evacuation must take place between Sunday and Monday due to worsening weather conditions in the Canary Islands.
The WHO boss said he was in direct communication with Captain Jan Dobrogowski and WHO colleague on board, Dr Freddy Banza-Mutoka.
He said he had been assured there are no additional people on board showing symptoms of the deadly virus.
“WHO continues to actively monitor the situation, coordinate support and next steps and will keep Member States and the public updated accordingly”, he said ahead of a live update on WHO channels: X, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn at 16:00 CEST.
WHO maintains the risk for the population of Canary Islands and globally remains low.
