TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), will travel to Tenerife, the largest island in the Canary Islands, Spain, off the coast of West Africa.
As reported by the Irish public broadcasting station, RTE, on Friday, Tedros' presence is to coordinate the evacuation of passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship impacted by hantavirus, citing sources from the Interior Ministry.
Tedros will join the Spanish Minister of Health and the Minister of the Interior at the command post on the island. "[This is] to ensure coordination between administrations, health control, and the application of the planned surveillance and response protocols.”
Regional authorities stated that the evacuation must be carried out between Sunday, May 10, and Monday, May 11, 2026, due to worsening weather conditions in the Canary Islands.
"The only window of opportunity we have to carry out this operation is around 12 o'clock on Sunday and until conditions change on Monday," said regional government spokesperson Alfonso Cabello, as quoted by RTE as reported by Anadolu.
Cabello mentioned wind and wave conditions as reasons for the ship's departure and the possibility that there may not be any further operations until the end of May.
The Dutch ship is expected to arrive off the coast of Tenerife on Sunday morning and anchor offshore. Passengers will then be transferred to smaller boats before being taken to the airport for repatriation flights.
This operation involves nearly 150 passengers and crew from 23 different countries, according to authorities.
The situation has triggered international concerns, with three deaths reported on board since the ship left Argentina in April.
Previous evacuations have been carried out off the coast of Cape Verde, while European Union countries are expected to coordinate the repatriation of their citizens after the passengers disembark from the ship.
Two new suspected cases of hantavirus have been reported in Spain and Tristan da Cunha, both linked to the same outbreak cluster, although the WHO has repeatedly stated that the risk to the general public is low.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has classified the hantavirus outbreak as a "Level 3" emergency response, the lowest level of emergency activation, as reported by ABC News on Thursday.
The outbreak involving the Andes hantavirus strain has so far resulted in five confirmed cases, including three deaths, among passengers associated with the cruise, according to WHO officials.
The MV Hondius ship, carrying around 150 passengers and crew from 23 nationalities, departed from Argentina and crossed the Atlantic before reporting a number of respiratory disease cases while sailing off the coast of Cape Verde.
Read: Hantavirus: American CDC Says Risk to Public 'Very Low'
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