Mirian Gom 
World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
ABUJA, Nigeria – Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is expected in Tenerife to coordinate evacuation efforts linked to the hantavirus outbreak aboard the MV Hondius cruise ship.
Spanish officials on Saturday say Tedros will join the country’s health and interior ministers at a command centre overseeing health surveillance and emergency response operations.
The outbreak has already claimed the lives of three passengers — a Dutch couple and a German woman — while several others have fallen ill after exposure to the rare virus.
Health authorities confirm that the Andes strain of hantavirus, the only known variant capable of human-to-human transmission, has been detected among infected passengers.
The Dutch-flagged vessel, carrying around 150 people, is expected to arrive in Tenerife on Sunday before passengers are repatriated through special evacuation flights.
Earlier, WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier says the outbreak poses minimal risk to the wider public despite international concern.
“This is a dangerous virus, but only to the person who’s really infected, and the risk to the general population remains absolutely low,” Lindmeier says.
WHO confirms six positive cases out of eight suspected infections linked to the outbreak.
A KLM flight attendant exposed to one of the infected passengers later tests negative for hantavirus after briefly developing mild symptoms.
Spanish health authorities are also monitoring a woman in eastern Spain who reportedly developed symptoms after sitting near one of the infected passengers during a flight from Johannesburg to Europe.
Officials say the patient remains in isolation while investigations continue.
The MV Hondius departed Ushuaia on April 1 for a transatlantic voyage to Cape Verde before the outbreak emerged.
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Korede Abdullah