GRANADILLA DE ABONA, Spain – A cruise ship at the centre of a deadly hantavirus outbreak is expected to reach Spain’s Canary Islands at dawn on Sunday, where most of the nearly 150 people on board will be evacuated and flown to their home countries after weeks at sea.

The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius is due to arrive off the coast of Tenerife between 03:00 and 05:00 GMT, with World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus helping to coordinate the evacuation.

Three passengers have died — a Dutch husband and wife and a German woman — while others have fallen ill with the rare disease, which ordinarily spreads among rodents. The WHO confirmed on Friday that six of eight suspected cases have been verified, with no remaining suspected cases on board.

The South Africa connection

The outbreak has a direct link to South Africa. The wife of the first person to die was briefly aboard a KLM flight from Johannesburg to the Netherlands on 25 April, but was removed from the aircraft before take-off. She died the following day in a Johannesburg hospital.

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A KLM flight attendant who came into contact with an infected passenger from the cruise ship and later showed mild symptoms tested negative for hantavirus, the WHO confirmed on Friday.

Spanish health authorities are testing a woman who was on that same flight and has since developed symptoms at home in eastern Spain. She is in isolation in hospital.

Health secretary Javier Padilla described it as “a pretty unlikely case”, noting she had been two rows behind the woman who died.

Evacuation plans

Regional authorities in the Canary Islands have refused to allow the vessel to dock. It will remain offshore while passengers are screened, transferred by smaller boats and transported by bus to the airport, from where they will be flown to their home countries, including the United States, Britain and France. The 14 Spanish nationals on board will be evacuated first.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said the operation would be swift, with passengers leaving “by nationality groups”. Spain’s health and interior ministers assured the public there would be “no contact” with the local population.

“All areas (the passengers) pass through will be sealed off,” he said, adding that a maritime exclusion zone would be in force around the vessel.

ALSO READ: US organises evacuation for Americans on hantavirus-struck cruise ship

‘Not another Covid’

WHO chief Tedros, who arrived in Spain on Saturday, sought to reassure residents of Tenerife that the risk posed by the incoming ship was “low”. In an open letter to the people of the island, he wrote: “I need you to hear me clearly: this is not another Covid.”

Before travelling to the Canary Islands on Saturday, Tedros met Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Madrid, accompanied by the health and interior ministers.

At the port of Granadilla de Abona, white tents had been erected along the quay ahead of the ship’s arrival. Despite the preparations, daily life appeared largely normal, with people swimming, shopping and sitting at café terraces. “There are worries there could be a danger, but honestly I don’t see people being very concerned,” said David Parada, a lottery vendor.

Tracking and tracing

The MV Hondius departed Ushuaia, Argentina on 1 April for a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Verde, where three infected people had already been evacuated earlier in the week. The only hantavirus strain known to transmit from person to person — the Andes virus — has been confirmed among those who tested positive, heightening international concern.

ALSO READ: WHO: More hantavirus cases could emerge in ‘limited’ outbreak

Provincial health official Juan Petrina said there was an “almost zero chance” the Dutch man linked to the outbreak had contracted the disease in Ushuaia, based on the virus’s incubation period, among other factors.

Health authorities in several countries have been tracking passengers who had already disembarked, as well as anyone who may have come into contact with them.

Two Singapore residents who had been on the ship tested negative for the disease but will remain in quarantine, Singapore’s authorities confirmed on Friday.

British health authorities also announced on Friday that there was a suspected case on Tristan da Cunha — one of the world’s most isolated settlements, with around 220 residents.

Part of the crew will remain on board after the passengers disembark, as the ship is to continue its voyage to the Netherlands.