The US has outlined how it plans to bring home 17 Americans currently aboard a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak, as the vessel is due to arrive in the Canary Islands this weekend.
The MV Hondius is nearing Tenerife and is expected to dock off the coast of the Spanish island on Sunday (May 10).
More than 140 passengers remain on board after the rare virus was detected while the ship crossed the Atlantic, having left Ushuaia, Argentina, last month.
At least three deaths have been reported, and several unwell passengers have already been taken off the ship for treatment.
Officials have confirmed five cases of Andes virus, a strain of hantavirus most commonly linked to rodents such as mice. In certain circumstances, it can also spread through close, intimate contact.
Public health teams are now working to identify and contact people who previously left the ship, along with anyone who may have interacted with them.
Seventeen US citizens are believed to still be aboard, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is sending personnel to Tenerife ahead of the ship’s arrival.
Under the proposed arrangement, the American passengers would be flown back to the US on a charter aircraft and then quarantined in Nebraska.
CNN reports the isolation step is intended to reduce the risk of any further transmission.
“Nebraska Medicine and UNMC remain in close coordination with national partners regarding the evolving situation with the hantavirus outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship.
“We cannot discuss specific communications at this time, but, our specialized teams, including the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit and National Quarantine Unit, are staffed and ready, if needed, to safely provide care while protecting our staff and the community.”
A spokesperson for the US state department told CNN that the agency is ‘in direct communication with Americans on board and are prepared to provide consular assistance as soon as the ship arrives in Tenerife, Spain’.
Meanwhile, demonstrations have taken place in Tenerife in recent days following an agreement between the Spanish government and the World Health Organization (WHO) that would allow passengers from the affected ship to disembark on the island.
Joana Batista, who belongs to a local port workers’ union, was among those raising concerns.
“We’re unhappy at the idea of being allowed to work in a port without special safety measures or information when an infected boat is approaching,” she told BBC News.
“If the boat is going to stop here, then it can do so, but with the necessary measures in place. Local people need to be told how this will affect them, how the passengers will be transported. We need reassurance above all.”