WHO chief arrives in Tenerife to oversee evacuation of hantavirus cruise ship | CNN

The director general of the World Health Organization (WHO) has sought to reassure concerned residents on the Spanish island of Tenerife ahead of the arrival of a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship early Sunday morning. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is in Tenerife to oversee the safe evacuation of nearly 150 passengers, said he understands that many on the island are “worried” about the arrival of the MV Hondius, on which three people have died after contracting the disease. But in a letter to residents of Tenerife he stressed that the hantavirus outbreak – which is typically spread through contact with rodent droppings – is “not another Covid-19.” “The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low,” he said, adding that WHO did not make that assessment “lightly.” Tedros said that Spanish authorities had prepared a “careful, step-by step plan” for when the cruise ship arrives at Granadilla port early Sunday. Passengers will be ferried ashore and travel in “sealed, guarded vehicles,” and kept away from residential areas before they are repatriated directly to their home countries. “You will not encounter them. Your families will not en