WHO Chief to Visit Canary Islands as Hantavirus Evacuates Cruise Ship with 17 Americans

Seventeen Americans are among 150 people set to evacuate from the M/V Hondius cruise ship following an outbreak of the Andes strain of Hantavirus, as World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tells the public the virus "is not another COVID-19."

The ship will anchor off the coast of Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday. Ghebreyesus plans to follow shortly after.

In a message posted to X on Saturday morning, Ghebreyesus said the public health risk from Hantavirus remains low. "I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word 'outbreak' and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest," he wrote.

"The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment. But I need you to hear me clearly: this is not another COVID-19. The current public health risk from Hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now," he added.

Ghebreyesus said he intends to travel to Tenerife, the Canary Island where passengers will arrive after evacuating. "I intend to travel to Tenerife to observe this operation firsthand, to stand alongside the health workers, port staff, and officials who are making it happen, and to personally pay my respects to an island that has responded to a difficult situation with grace, solidarity, and compassion," he wrote.

"Your humanity deserves to be witnessed, not just acknowledged from a distance. As I have said many times: viruses do not care about politics, and they do not respect borders. The best immunity any of us has is solidarity," the WHO head added.

Ghebreyesus warned the public to stay vigilant despite his assurances. The virus has claimed three lives on the ship. "The virus aboard the MV Hondius is the Andes strain of hantavirus. It is serious. Three people have lost their lives, and our hearts go out to their families," he wrote. He reiterated that the public health risk remains low.

The U.S. government plans to evacuate the American passengers to a military base in Nebraska for quarantine and monitoring.

President Donald Trump commented Friday, telling reporters, "We have very good people looking at it. It seems to be okay. They know the virus very well. They've worked with it for a long time. They know it very well. Not easy to pass on. So we hope that's true."

"Our American passengers, they're gonna be taken to Nebraska, to a center where they will be monitored. They will be isolated, they'll check their vital signs, their temperature, their oxygen level, their blood pressure," Dr. Janet Nesheiwat, a former Trump nominee for Surgeon General, told Fox News on Saturday.

"If they start to develop any symptoms, we can intervene early. Because as it is right now, there's no specific treatment for this virus other than supportive care, like oxygen, fluids, hydration, analgesics," she said.