Canary Islands refuse to dock quarantined tourist ship with Hantavirus
2026-05-06 11:05:23
TiranaPost
The regional government of Spain's Canary Islands is against allowing a luxury cruise ship hit by an outbreak of the deadly coronavirus to dock in the archipelago, its head, Fernando Clavijo, said on Wednesday.
"This decision is not based on any technical criteria, nor is there sufficient information to reassure the public or guarantee their safety," Clavijo told Spanish radio station COPE.
He added that he had requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to discuss the issue.
Clavijo belongs to the Conservative Popular Party – the main opposition to Sanchez's Socialists.
Earlier today, Spanish state television channel TVE reported that the cruise ship would dock on the island of Tenerife, citing sources from the country's health ministry.
"I was forced to contact the government because no one informed us officially, they did not contact us after yesterday's decision to dock the ship in Tenerife," Clavijo said on state television.
"Neither the population of the Canary Islands is calm, nor the [regional] government. The cruise ship must go to the Netherlands to disembark its healthy passengers," he added.
He explained in the same statements that the region only has one bed for treating such cases.
Three deaths from coronavirus have already been recorded among those on board the cruise ship.
Cases in South Africa and Switzerland
Concern is growing that South Africa has detected the Andean strain of the virus, which is transmitted from one person to another, in two people who disembarked from a cruise ship affected by an outbreak of the disease, according to a presentation by the Minister of Health in the South African Parliament today, Wednesday.
The ship, "MV Hondius", was preparing to sail from Cape Verde to Europe today, after the Spanish government had granted permission to dock in the Canary Islands.
The first presentation by Reuters said tests by South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) found the Andean strain was the cause of infection in a Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg and a Briton who remains hospitalized. Both had fallen ill on the ship.
At the same time, in Switzerland, the federal government announced that another case of hantavirus is being treated at a hospital in the country.
Specifically, it concerns a man who is being treated at a clinic in Zurich.
In her statement, Berne mentioned that this man was also a passenger on the same cruise ship.
The Swiss government added with conviction that there is no risk to the country's population.
