'We don't know what we're dealing with': Canary Islands reject hantavirus cruise ship
Copyright Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
The Canary Islands reject the Spanish government's decision to transfer a cruise ship with a hantavirus outbreak to their territory, as health authorities coordinate a medical evacuation from Cabo Verde. South African authorities have detected the Andean variant, which is contagious between humans.
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, rejected on Wednesday the Spanish government's decision to bring the cruise ship MV Hondius to the archipelago
The vessel, affected by a hantavirus outbreak on board, is currently anchored off Praia, the capital of Cabo Verde. The ship is expected to dock in Tenerife in three days.
"It is an improvisation by the Spanish government," Clavijo said in an interview on Spanish radio, in which he assured that there is insufficient information on the extent of the outbreak. "We have no medical report on how many patients are infected," he said.
The Canarian president has asked for an urgent meeting with the Spanish President Pedro Sánchez to ask him to reconsider the decision to bring the ship to the islands.
Sánchez has convened a meeting on the hantavirus crisis, which will be attended by the Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the Minister of Health, Mónica García, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported that 147 passengers and crew are on board the ship and that, for the moment, seven cases linked to the outbreak have been identified: two laboratory-confirmed and five suspected cases.
The toll includes three deaths, one patient in critical condition, and three people with mild symptoms. South African authorities have detected the Andean variant in several of those infected, a variant that is transmitted between humans.
The secretary general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has stated that based on current information, the international organisation "assesses the risk to the general population is low".
Clavijo also questioned the Spanish government's decision, taken in coordination with the WHO and the European Union, to bring the ship to the Canary Islands.
"It is the Spanish government that decides to take it to the Canary Islands (...) Why can't they be treated in Praia?" said the regional president.
The WHO appealed to compliance with international law and the "humanitarian spirit" in asking Spain to take in the ship, and stressed that Cabo Verde does not have the necessary capacity to manage an operation of this magnitude. According to Pedro Sánchez's government, the transfer responds to humanitarian criteria.
The Ministry of Health has confirmed that Spain has also agreed to the urgent transfer of the ship's doctor, who is in a serious condition, on a medicalised plane to the Canary Islands.
The operation is part of the arrangements coordinated with the WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which is assessing the epidemiological situation on the ship.
Clavijo has warned that the decision "does not convey peace of mind" to the Canary Islands population.
He also insisted that "the position of the Government of the Canary Islands" is to reject the operation as it has been proposed, considering that the necessary data to guarantee the health safety of the archipelago has not been provided.
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, rejected on Wednesday the Spanish government's decision to bring the cruise ship MV Hondius to the archipelago
The vessel, affected by a hantavirus outbreak on board, is currently anchored off Praia, the capital of Cabo Verde. The ship is expected to dock in Tenerife in three days.
"It is an improvisation by the Spanish government," Clavijo said in an interview on Spanish radio, in which he assured that there is insufficient information on the extent of the outbreak. "We have no medical report on how many patients are infected," he said.
The Canarian president has asked for an urgent meeting with the Spanish President Pedro Sánchez to ask him to reconsider the decision to bring the ship to the islands.
Sánchez has convened a meeting on the hantavirus crisis, which will be attended by the Minister of Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, the Minister of Health, Mónica García, the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, and the Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported that 147 passengers and crew are on board the ship and that, for the moment, seven cases linked to the outbreak have been identified: two laboratory-confirmed and five suspected cases.
The toll includes three deaths, one patient in critical condition, and three people with mild symptoms. South African authorities have detected the Andean variant in several of those infected, a variant that is transmitted between humans.
The secretary general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has stated that based on current information, the international organisation "assesses the risk to the general population is low".
Clavijo also questioned the Spanish government's decision, taken in coordination with the WHO and the European Union, to bring the ship to the Canary Islands.
"It is the Spanish government that decides to take it to the Canary Islands (...) Why can't they be treated in Praia?" said the regional president.
The WHO appealed to compliance with international law and the "humanitarian spirit" in asking Spain to take in the ship, and stressed that Cabo Verde does not have the necessary capacity to manage an operation of this magnitude. According to Pedro Sánchez's government, the transfer responds to humanitarian criteria.
The Ministry of Health has confirmed that Spain has also agreed to the urgent transfer of the ship's doctor, who is in a serious condition, on a medicalised plane to the Canary Islands.
The operation is part of the arrangements coordinated with the WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which is assessing the epidemiological situation on the ship.
Clavijo has warned that the decision "does not convey peace of mind" to the Canary Islands population.
He also insisted that "the position of the Government of the Canary Islands" is to reject the operation as it has been proposed, considering that the necessary data to guarantee the health safety of the archipelago has not been provided.
The first hospitalised plane arrives in Cabo Verde
Cabo Verde has confirmed the arrival in the country of one of the two ambulance planes planned to evacuate three people affected by the outbreak detected on the cruise.
According to the country's Ministry of Health, "the sanitary evacuation of the three patients will be carried out in the next few hours, using two ambulance planes, in coordination with the competent national and international authorities".
The department specified that one of the aircraft is already in the country and that a second plane is expected to arrive, as well as a specialist doctor to assist the occupants of the ship.
The health authorities stressed that once the evacuation process is completed, the ship should resume its journey. The Ministry assured that the operation is being prepared "with maximum security and inter-institutional coordination", with the participation of all the entities involved, in order to guarantee its execution as soon as the necessary conditions are met.
Cabo Verde has confirmed the arrival in the country of one of the two ambulance planes planned to evacuate three people affected by the outbreak detected on the cruise.
According to the country's Ministry of Health, "the sanitary evacuation of the three patients will be carried out in the next few hours, using two ambulance planes, in coordination with the competent national and international authorities".
The department specified that one of the aircraft is already in the country and that a second plane is expected to arrive, as well as a specialist doctor to assist the occupants of the ship.
The health authorities stressed that once the evacuation process is completed, the ship should resume its journey. The Ministry assured that the operation is being prepared "with maximum security and inter-institutional coordination", with the participation of all the entities involved, in order to guarantee its execution as soon as the necessary conditions are met.
What is the hantavirus?
Hantavirus refers to a group of viruses carried by rodents, primarily transmitted to humans through the inhalation of airborne particles from dried rodent droppings.
Contact with infected rodents or their urine, saliva, or droppings — especially when these materials are disturbed and become airborne — is the primary way it spreads.
The infection can lead to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), characterised by headaches, dizziness, chills, fever, muscle pain and gastrointestinal problems, followed by the onset of respiratory distress and hypotension.
According to the WHO, symptoms of HPS typically appear two to four weeks after initial exposure to the virus.
However, symptoms may appear as early as one week and as late as eight weeks following exposure.
Hantavirus refers to a group of viruses carried by rodents, primarily transmitted to humans through the inhalation of airborne particles from dried rodent droppings.
Contact with infected rodents or their urine, saliva, or droppings — especially when these materials are disturbed and become airborne — is the primary way it spreads.
The infection can lead to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), characterised by headaches, dizziness, chills, fever, muscle pain and gastrointestinal problems, followed by the onset of respiratory distress and hypotension.
According to the WHO, symptoms of HPS typically appear two to four weeks after initial exposure to the virus.
However, symptoms may appear as early as one week and as late as eight weeks following exposure.
Hantavirus outbreak: Spain agrees to take in MV Hondius doctor in serious condition
Copyright Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
The Spanish government accepted the urgent transfer to the Canary Islands of the doctor from the MV Hondius, in serious condition due to hantavirus, as part of the operation coordinated with the WHO and the EU to treat the ship, which is currently sailing in the waters off Cape Verde. The doctor will be transported in a "hospitalised aircraft".
The Spanish government has agreed to take in the doctor from the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius, who is in serious condition due to an outbreak of hantavirus detected on board, as part of the humanitarian operation activated for the ship in the Canary Islands.
The doctor will be transferred the same day in a medicalised plane, following a formal request from the Dutch government, according to the Ministry of Health.
"As part of the operation, the government has also accepted the request from the Dutch government to take in the doctor from the MV Hondius, who is in a serious condition, and who will be transported to the Canary Islands today in a hospitalised plane," the health ministry announced via the X platform.
The decision comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO), in coordination with the European Union, asked Spain to receive the ship in compliance with international law and the "humanitarian spirit". The Hondius, which departed from Argentina, is currently in the waters of Cape Verde, where it arrived after detecting several cases of hantavirus during its Atlantic crossing.
Health has stressed that Cape Verde does not have the necessary capacity to manage an operation of this magnitude and that the Canary Islands are the closest point with sufficient resources.
In parallel to the transfer of the doctor in serious condition, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is carrying out a thorough assessment of the boat to determine which people should be evacuated urgently in Cape Verde itself and which will continue to the Canary Islands.
The WHO reports that 147 passengers and crew are on board the ship and that, so far, seven cases linked to the outbreak have been identified: two laboratory-confirmed and five suspected cases. The toll includes three deaths, one patient in critical condition, and three people with mild symptoms.
According to the international agency, the first symptoms appeared between 6 and 28 April and were characterised by fever and gastrointestinal disorders, with a rapid progression in some cases to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and shock.
Apart from those with symptoms, the remaining passengers and crew will be examined and treated according to a common protocol developed by the WHO and the ECDC, once the ship arrives in the archipelago in an estimated three to four days.
This procedure includes specific health and transport circuits, "avoiding all contact with the local population and guaranteeing the safety of health personnel at all times", according to an official statement from the Ministry of Health.
The government has stressed that it will provide timely information on the details of the protocol and its implementation. The operation also includes the subsequent repatriation of passengers and crew members to their countries of origin, including several Spanish citizens, once the medical and epidemiological evaluations have been completed.
The Spanish government has agreed to take in the doctor from the luxury cruise ship MV Hondius, who is in serious condition due to an outbreak of hantavirus detected on board, as part of the humanitarian operation activated for the ship in the Canary Islands.
The doctor will be transferred the same day in a medicalised plane, following a formal request from the Dutch government, according to the Ministry of Health.
"As part of the operation, the government has also accepted the request from the Dutch government to take in the doctor from the MV Hondius, who is in a serious condition, and who will be transported to the Canary Islands today in a hospitalised plane," the health ministry announced via the X platform.
The decision comes after the World Health Organisation (WHO), in coordination with the European Union, asked Spain to receive the ship in compliance with international law and the "humanitarian spirit". The Hondius, which departed from Argentina, is currently in the waters of Cape Verde, where it arrived after detecting several cases of hantavirus during its Atlantic crossing.
Health has stressed that Cape Verde does not have the necessary capacity to manage an operation of this magnitude and that the Canary Islands are the closest point with sufficient resources.
In parallel to the transfer of the doctor in serious condition, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is carrying out a thorough assessment of the boat to determine which people should be evacuated urgently in Cape Verde itself and which will continue to the Canary Islands.
The WHO reports that 147 passengers and crew are on board the ship and that, so far, seven cases linked to the outbreak have been identified: two laboratory-confirmed and five suspected cases. The toll includes three deaths, one patient in critical condition, and three people with mild symptoms.
According to the international agency, the first symptoms appeared between 6 and 28 April and were characterised by fever and gastrointestinal disorders, with a rapid progression in some cases to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and shock.
Apart from those with symptoms, the remaining passengers and crew will be examined and treated according to a common protocol developed by the WHO and the ECDC, once the ship arrives in the archipelago in an estimated three to four days.
This procedure includes specific health and transport circuits, "avoiding all contact with the local population and guaranteeing the safety of health personnel at all times", according to an official statement from the Ministry of Health.
The government has stressed that it will provide timely information on the details of the protocol and its implementation. The operation also includes the subsequent repatriation of passengers and crew members to their countries of origin, including several Spanish citizens, once the medical and epidemiological evaluations have been completed.
Tracking of a hantavirus-contacted flight
The WHO is tracing more than 80 passengers following a case of hantavirus on a flightto Johannesburg that included a woman who subsequently died from hantavirus. The victim, a Dutch national, had previously been evacuated from the island of St Helena after developing symptoms.
The international health agency confirmed that the 69-year-old woman was flown on 25 April on a plane operated by Airlink, carrying 82 passengers and six crew members. She died the next day in hospital, her infection with the virus was confirmed days later.
The WHO is tracing more than 80 passengers following a case of hantavirus on a flightto Johannesburg that included a woman who subsequently died from hantavirus. The victim, a Dutch national, had previously been evacuated from the island of St Helena after developing symptoms.
The international health agency confirmed that the 69-year-old woman was flown on 25 April on a plane operated by Airlink, carrying 82 passengers and six crew members. She died the next day in hospital, her infection with the virus was confirmed days later.
How is hantavirus transmitted?
Hantavirus is a group of viruses carried by rodents and transmitted to humans mainly by inhalation of particles from dried droppings, urine, or saliva. The risk increases when these materials are stirred up and become airborne or by direct contact with infected animals.
Infection can lead to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which starts with symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle aches, dizziness, chills, and gastrointestinal disorders. In later stages, it can progress to severe respiratory distress and hypotension, making severe cases a medical emergency.
The incubation period is usually between two and four weeks after exposure, but can range from one week to eight weeks.
There is no specific treatment and the virus can occur in different variants, with the American variant being the most severe. Human-to-human transmission is very rare and, when it has been described, requires very close and prolonged contact.
Hantavirus is a group of viruses carried by rodents and transmitted to humans mainly by inhalation of particles from dried droppings, urine, or saliva. The risk increases when these materials are stirred up and become airborne or by direct contact with infected animals.
Infection can lead to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, which starts with symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle aches, dizziness, chills, and gastrointestinal disorders. In later stages, it can progress to severe respiratory distress and hypotension, making severe cases a medical emergency.
The incubation period is usually between two and four weeks after exposure, but can range from one week to eight weeks.
There is no specific treatment and the virus can occur in different variants, with the American variant being the most severe. Human-to-human transmission is very rare and, when it has been described, requires very close and prolonged contact.
Can China Curb Trump’s Gambit In Hormuz? – OpEd
China’s shock warning to the US President Donald Trump that his road to Beijing goes through the Strait of Hormuz has been an audacious move directly linking his planned visit to China on May 14-15 with the situation around Iran.
It is more than coincidental that China’s whiplash in the form of a special press conference to mark the commencement of China’s presidency of the Security Council on May 1 at the UN by its special representative Ambassador Fu Cong came hot on the heels of Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoning Trump on April 28 to warn him that “if the United States and Israel resume military action, this would inevitably lead to extremely adverse consequences not only for Iran and its neighbours, but for the entire international community… a ground operation on Iranian territory would be particularly unacceptable and dangerous.”
Ambassador Fu, reading out a written statement, explicitly stated that the US blockade against Iran must be lifted and that the root cause of the crisis lies in the “unjust” attacks by the US and its allies on Iran.
Ambassador Fu warned that if the Strait of Hormuz is still in crisis when Air Force One lands in Beijing, it will be on top of the agenda, despite the reality that China-US relationship goes far beyond the current crisis, as the continued closure of the world’s most vital chokepoint has become an unavoidable priority.
As the world’s largest oil importer with 40 percent of its crude passing through the Strait, China views the restoration of navigation as an urgent matter of national and global interest. In Fu’s perspective, the responsibility for reopening the Strait lies with both sides. He called for a synchronised deescalation — Iran should lift its restrictions and the US should lift its retaliatory blockade.
The ambassador expressed particular alarm over the current rhetoric from Washington suggesting that the ceasefire is only temporary and urged the international community to voice opposition to the resumption of kinetic operations.
Fu’s choice of words linking the Hormuz crisis with Trump’s China visit is noteworthy: “I am sure if the Hormuz is still closed by the time President goes to China, this issue will be high on the agenda of the bilateral talks. And of course the bilateral relationship between China and the US goes far beyond the Strait of Hormuz. And I think it is in the interest of both countries, the two peoples and I should say the entire peoples of the world that China and the US maintain steady, sound and sustainable relations.”
Interestingly, the Ambassador seized the opportunity to categorically deny any military collaboration between China and Iran during the war. “But we are very sympathetic towards what the Iranian people are enduring. An illegitimate war has been imposed on the people…”
Make no mistake that China and Russia have signalled the emergence of an alternative narrative on the international stage — one that portrays the US as the destabilising force in the Persian Gulf. Between the two superpowers, China has taken a much stronger position linking the resolution of the Hormuz blockade with the Sino-American strategic discourses.
Significantly, three days after Fu spoke in New York, Beijing took a decisive step against the US by ordering Chinese refineries across the country to defy the Trump administration’s sanctions on Iranian oil. Action speaks better than words. This is the first time a country has frontally poked the Trump administration in the eye, marking a new level of defiance that may be a precursor of the shape of things to come. (See my blog Beijing confronts US sanctions on refineries, Indian Punchline, May 4, 2026)
That said, on closer examination, it would have weighed in Beijing’s calculus that China also has a profound and consequential relationship with the GCC states that is far more dynamic than what Iran is offering. Fu prudently took to the heights and refused to be judgemental about Iran’s entanglement with the petrodollar states of the Persian Gulf.
On the other hand, it is a big thing in itself to warn a megalomaniacal politician like Trump to be publicly notified by Beijing that the invitation to him for a state visit comes with strings attached. Already, President Xi Jinping is reportedly balancing his invite to Trump with another one likewise to Putin in May itself.
One can never be sure about the Chinese motivation to publicly set the tone for Trump’s arrival in Beijing 10 days from now. Fu Actually, embedded deep inside Ambassador Fu’s lengthy statement was a cryptic remark in parenthesis to the effect ‘if the visit (by Trump) takes place.’ Could it be that Beijing would have preferred Trump’s state visit to be deferred to a future date in calmer circumstances?
The fact of the matter is that Trump has three options — a return to war but that is not only deeply unpopular internally and requires a redefinition of necessity as well as definite prospects of success; two, moving toward negotiation but Tehran seeks a fundamental change in the negotiation framework which would essentially require a retreat by Trump from his maximum pressure policy.
There is a third option indeed, which is to continue the present “siege warfare.” It is less costly but is gradually becoming a strategic trap where the decisive factor is resilience. This is where the shift in global pressure can be a critical factor. The US stands isolated today as a permanent member of the Security Council.
Trump is highly sensitive about criticism. He hit back at Putin with a rare public rebuff apropos the latter’s offer to mediate by advising him to concentrate on the war in Ukraine. Fu, on the other hand, has written on a clean state, factoring in the grim geo-strategic reality this is the last chance for the Trump-Netanyahu juggernaut to have another “go” at Iran’s destruction and disintegration.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps [IRGC] stated on, Monday, “No commercial or tanker vessels have transited the Strait of Hormuz in the past several hours. US officials’ claims are baseless and outright false.” As Tehran sees it, Trump’s decision to launch the so-called Project Freedom in the Strait of Hormuz — ostensibly to “assist neutral vessels” and ensure their safe passage — is not just a security operation but a multi-layered political-military move, an effort to redefine the rules of the game in the Strait of Hormuz and to seize the initiative in one of the world’s most sensitive geopolitical points.
The IRGC statement stressed that any US military presence in the Hormuz Strait will be met with military force, since this is a blatant attempt to alter the status quo, continue the 40-day war, and effectively violate the ceasefire.
There is no question that IRGC will bring to bear its deterrent capability to prevent the entrenchment of a US military presence near Iran’s maritime borders — as well as to send a message to markets and economic actors that safe transit through the Strait will remain contingent on engagement with Iran’s declared rules.
This dialectic raises the level of risk for all parties. The signs of a dangerous drift toward “kinetic phase” are already appearing in the Strait Hormuz.
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