Spain carrying out ‘compassionate’ and ‘efficient’ operation, health ministry says
Spain is carrying out a “compassionate” and “efficient” operation to evacuate more than 140 people from a virus-stricken cruise ship, the country’s health ministry has said.
In a post on X, health minister Monica Garcia wrote: “The entire world is watching us, and Spain has demonstrated its capacity to lead an international public health emergency.
“We are carrying out an unprecedented evacuation in coordination with 23 countries. We are a compassionate and efficient country at the same time.”
Nicole Wootton-Cane10 May 2026 14:30
Watch: Drone footage captures Hantavirus-hit cruise ship passengers disembarking vessel
Drone footage captures Hantavirus-hit cruise ship passengers disembarking vessel
Nicole Wootton-Cane10 May 2026 14:15
British passengers on hantavirus-hit cruise ship to isolate at UK Covid-quarantine hospital
The Merseyside hospital gained prominence as the nation’s initial quarantine site for British citizens returning from Wuhan, China, at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020.
Nicole Wootton-Cane10 May 2026 14:00
Spain’s health minister says evacuation from hantavirus-hit ship to run into Monday afternoon
The evacuation process of passengers from the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak anchored near Tenerife will take until Monday afternoon local time, Spain’s health minister said on Sunday.
Spaniards disembarked first as planned, and will be followed by passengers from the Netherlands, whose plane will also transport passengers from Germany, Belgium, and Greece, officials said.
After that, passengers from Turkey, France, Great Britain and the United States will be evacuated, the minister added, speaking to reporters at the port of Tenerife.
Nicole Wootton-Cane10 May 2026 13:45
Watch: Trump says hantavirus situation ‘under very good control’
Trump says hantavirus situation ‘under very good control’
Nicole Wootton-Cane10 May 2026 13:36
Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, Turkey, Ireland, and the United States set to evacuate citizens
Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, Turkey, Ireland, and the United States will be the next countries to evacuate citizens from the MV Hondius, Spanish health officials said.
It comes after Spanish and French nationals were evacuated on charter flights earlier on Sunday.
Nicole Wootton-Cane10 May 2026 13:15
Recap: Evacuation of virus-stricken cruise ship under way
Passengers have begun evacuating from a cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak, as Britons on board prepare to be flown home to isolate at the UK’s initial Covid quarantine site.
The MV Hondius arrived in Tenerife on Sunday morning, with Spanish authorities beginning evacuations of the ship by nationality.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said 22 British passengers and crew will be transferred to an isolation facility at Arrowe Park Hospital on the Wirral, Merseyside, after being repatriated to the UK on a chartered flight.
Spanish authorities said on Sunday that no passengers on the ship were showing symptoms of the virus, with 14 Spanish nationals who formed the first group to be evacuated from the vessel being flown to a hospital in Madrid.
French passengers will leave the ship next, followed by nationals from Canada, the Netherlands, the UK, Türkiye, Ireland and the US.
Amy-Clare Martin10 May 2026 13:15
Why are cruise ships prone to disease outbreaks? From hantavirus to COVID
Cruises are sold as floating holidays, but they are also useful for understanding public health. Cruise ships are carefully designed places where many people live, eat, relax and move through the same shared spaces for days at a time. They show how easily illness can spread when people are packed into a single interconnected environment.
Think of a cruise ship as a temporary city at sea. It has restaurants, theatres, lifts, cabins, kitchens, water systems and indoor gathering spaces. That is great for convenience, but it also means that once an infection gets on board, it can move through the ship in ways that are hard to stop.
The Diamond Princess outbreak is perhaps the best-known example. During the 2020 COVID outbreak, 619 passengers and crew tested positive for the disease. Researchers found that the ship conditions made the novel coronavirus spread more easily. Their modelling suggested that public health measures, such as isolation and quarantine, prevented many more cases, but it also showed that an earlier response would have further limited the outbreak.
Norovirus (the so-called vomiting bug) is the infection most closely linked to cruise ships. In a review of previously published studies, researchers found 127 reports of norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships, with many linked to contaminated food, contaminated surfaces and person-to-person spread. A more recent report from the US also showed that norovirus can spread very rapidly from person to person on a cruise ship.
This helps explain why ships such as Celebrity Mercury, Explorer of the Seas and Carnival Triumph have become familiar names in outbreak reports. These were not unusual in some special way; they were simply settings where shared dining, close contact and frequent movement through common areas allowed infection to spread fast.
Nicole Wootton-Cane10 May 2026 13:00
In pictures: Passengers in blue protective suits board French government plane
Passengers wearing blue protective suits board a French government plane after being evacuated from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship (AFP/Getty)A French plane carrying passengers of the cruise ship MV Hondius takes off from Tenerife Sud airport (Reuters)Passengers were taken to the airport in a military bus before boarding a French government plane (AFP/Getty)
Amy-Clare Martin10 May 2026 12:45
Watch: Army parachutes team on to Tristan da Cunha to support hantavirus response
Army parachutes team on to Tristan da Cunha to support hantavirus response
Nicole Wootton-Cane10 May 2026 12:30
