Overview
- The cruise operator and WHO said three high‑risk patients were airlifted from Cabo Verde on Wednesday, and the ship is now sailing to the Canary Islands with arrival expected in about three to four days.
- Laboratories identified the Andes strain, a hantavirus variant spread mainly by rodent droppings that has rare person‑to‑person transmission requiring very close, prolonged contact, and WHO says the public risk is low.
- Health agencies report eight linked cases so far, including five confirmed by tests and three deaths connected to the voyage.
- Spain’s plan calls for a controlled docking at Granadilla in Tenerife, direct transfers in sealed transport, repatriation flights for foreign passengers, and hospital quarantine in Madrid for the 14 Spanish nationals.
- Regional leaders in the Canary Islands object to receiving the ship and ask for more technical detail, while international teams trace contacts from a Johannesburg flight and probe a possible pre‑boarding exposure in Ushuaia.