Health secures the evacuation of the Hondius cruise ship: Spanish passengers will accept quarantine for hantavirus

The Ministry of Health has activated a broad health and international operation to manage the arrival of the vessel MV Hondius after the hantavirus outbreak detected on board. The Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, assured this Friday that none of the 14 Spanish passengers has shown rejection to comply with the planned quarantine when they are evacuated from the port of Granadilla de Abona and transferred to the Gómez Ulla Military Hospital in Madrid.

Padilla explained that he maintains direct contact with the Spanish passengers and stressed that “they are well and have no symptoms”, although he acknowledged that they have experienced complicated moments during the journey. The health official stated that isolation is initially proposed voluntarily and expressed confidence that it will not be necessary to apply coercive measures. “None of them have expressed any opposition in that regard,” he said in an interview on 'La hora de la 1' on TVE.

The Government, however, already has a legal framework prepared in case it were necessary to impose mandatory quarantine. Health recalled that the Organic Law on Special Measures in Public Health Matters of 1986 allows adopting individual restrictions in situations of health risk, always under judicial authorization and guaranteeing the proportionality of the measures. Passengers must sign a document of conformity with the isolation protocol designed by the health technicians.

The operation also has international coordination because the case affects citizens from 22 different countries. Unión Europea, Organización Mundial de la Salud and different governments participate in the tasks of evacuation and repatriation. According to Padilla, Países Bajos maintains a special responsibility as it is a ship with a Dutch flag, while countries like Estados Unidos and Reino Unido have already mobilized flights to evacuate their citizens.

From the Executive, an attempt has also been made to reduce the political tension that arose after the criticism from the Gobierno de Canarias for the management of the crisis. The Secretary of State insisted that there is a “total and absolute institutional cooperation” with the Consejería de Sanidad de Canarias and recalled that daily technical meetings are held to coordinate each phase of the disembarkation and transfer of passengers.

The Ministry of Health has also defended that all decisions are being adopted under scientific criteria and maximum safety. On board the Hondius travel Dutch infectologists, representatives of the European Centre for Disease Control and experts linked to the WHO who supervise the cruise ship's health situation. The Government foresees that, after the disembarkation and evacuation of the affected passengers, the ship will continue its route towards the Netherlands, where the necessary disinfection actions will be completed.