Sarah RainfordSouthern and Eastern Europe Correspondent, Granadilla, Tenerife
BBC
Almost a month after the death of the first passenger aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius, it finally reached Tenerife, in the Canary Islands.
Intensive preparations are underway to welcome the ship into the port of Granadilla and help repatriate more than 100 people to shore.
The Hondius arrived near the port before dawn, but even now it will not be allowed to reach the coast: a security perimeter of one nautical mile has been imposed around the ship as it approaches the island.
The complex operation to prevent the spread of the rare Andean strain of the virus is being described as “unprecedented” by Spain’s health minister.
Involving 23 countries, it was meticulously planned for maximum security and to address the concerns of disgruntled locals. Among them is the president of the Canary Islands, who says he “won’t be calm” until all the passengers and crew have left.
“The risk of contagion for the general population is low,” Health Minister Mónica García reiterated on Saturday.
“We believe that alarmism, misinformation and confusion are contrary to the fundamental principles of preserving public health.”
Security measures at the port, an industrial facility in southern Tenerife, were significantly increased on Saturday. Spanish military police and disaster response teams have both set up large party tents and access to the waterfront is restricted.
Once the Hondius was in place, around 7 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Sunday, medical teams were expected to board to check for any signs of the virus. Latest reports indicate no one else is showing symptoms.
People will then be divided into groups by nationality and transported to the coast in small boats. By then, charter planes should be on the tarmac at the local airport, ready to take them home.
Earlier on Saturday, the Home Secretary said the UK, US and several EU member states would all send planes. Medically equipped planes are also on standby should anyone need to be isolated.
Otherwise, Spanish nationals will be flown to Madrid, where they will be subject to mandatory quarantine at the Gomez Ulla Military Hospital. Complete isolation would be exhausting – the virus has an incubation period of up to nine weeks – and it is unclear how long people in Spain or elsewhere will be quarantined.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, currently in Tenerife to supervise the landing, praised the authorities for their “robust and effective response” to this epidemic.
It has been linked to a landfill in the far south of Argentina, popular with bird watchers. The virus is carried by rodents there and it is rare for it to pass between people, but three cruise passengers have died.
The WHO boss therefore urged nervous Spaniards to trust those responsible for the evacuation.
“Your concern is legitimate, due to the experience of Covid: this trauma is still present in our minds,” he admitted. But he added that the risk of wider contagion was now low “because of the way the virus works and the way the Spanish government has prepared to avoid any problems.”
Dozens of intensive care specialists are on standby at Candelaria Hospital in Tenerife in case anyone from Hondius becomes seriously ill during transfer. A strict isolation facility has a bed fully equipped to treat infectious diseases, with a test kit and a ventilator.
“We are absolutely ready,” chief intensive care doctor Mar Martin told me in the unit, where a large number of protective suits, masks and gloves are already piled up for staff.
“We have never seen [hantavirus] before – but it’s a virus, with some complications, as we deal with it every day. We are perfectly trained for this. »
There was some anger here when people learned that the Hondius was being diverted to their island.
On Friday, a group of port workers gathered outside the local parliament to protest loudly, fearing that security measures were not strict enough.
Very late last night, all carefully laid plans were briefly upended when Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo said he would deny port entry to the ship because the landing could not be accomplished in one day.
Some countries have not yet sent evacuation planes. The central government in Madrid had to intervene.
Clavijo then claimed on television that a rat carrying the hantavirus could “come off the ship in the middle of the night and endanger the population of the Canary Islands”. The Secretary of Health had to speak out and insist that such a scenario did not constitute “a risk”.
Now there is more clarity – and calm.
“The virus is dangerous, of course. But they say you have to have very close contact to catch it,” Jennifer told me while walking with her child in Santa Cruz, the capital of Tenerife.
“If we’re careful, we hope it’s not too serious.”
Others were upset by Madrid’s decision to send the Hondius here – a political rather than a medical concern.
Some recalled how officials had also made reassuring noises about Covid, before the pandemic took hold.
But there is no sense of panic here.
“If they don’t come from the boat, everything is fine,” Esteban told me. “If the measures are adequate, I don’t think people here will be worried,” admitted his partner Isabel.
Not everyone will disembark in Tenerife from the Hondius: around thirty crew members will remain on board to bring the cruise ship back to the Netherlands. But for most, the end of weeks of fear and uncertainty at sea is finally in sight.
Now come the long weeks of quarantine.
Reuters
