Tenerife medics poised for arrival of virus-hit cruise ship

Intensive preparations have been under way to receive the ship in the port of Granadilla and help more than 100 people onto shore to be repatriated.

The Hondius is expected to arrive in the area before dawn but even now it won't be permitted to reach shore: a security perimeter of one nautical mile will be enforced around the ship as it approaches the island.

Once in the port, it will drop anchor at sea to ensure its continuing isolation.

The complex operation to prevent the rare Andes strain of this virus spreading is described by Spain's health minister as "unprecedented".

Involving 23 countries, it has been meticulously planned for maximum safety and to answer the concerns of disgruntled locals. They include the president of the Canary Islands, who says he "won't be calm" until all the passengers and crew have left.

"The risk of contagion for the general population is low," health minister Mónica García repeated on Saturday.

"We believe that alarmism, misinformation and confusion are contrary to the basic principles of preserving public health."

Security measures in the port, an industrial facility in the south of Tenerife, increased notably on Saturday. Spain's military police and disaster response teams have both set up large reception tents and access to the waterfront is restricted.

Once the Hondius has been manoeuvred into place, by around 07:00 (06:00 GMT) on Sunday, medical teams will board to check everyone for signs of the virus. Latest reports say nobody else is showing symptoms.

People will then be divided into groups by nationality and ferried to the coast in small boats. By then, charter planes should be on the tarmac at the local airport, ready to repatriate them.

Earlier on Saturday, the interior minister said the UK, US and multiple EU member states were all sending planes. Medically-equipped aircraft will be on standby, too, should anyone need to be taken into isolation.

Otherwise, the Spanish nationals will be flown to Madrid, where they face a mandatory quarantine in the Gomez Ulla military hospital. Complete isolation would be gruelling - the virus has an incubation period of up to nine weeks - and it is not clear how long people in Spain or elsewhere will be quarantined.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, now in Tenerife to oversee the disembarking, has praised the authorities for their "solid and effective response" to this outbreak.

It has been linked to a landfill site in the southernmost tip of Argentina, popular with birdwatchers. The virus is carried there by rodents, and it's rare for it to pass between people, but three cruise passengers have died.

So the WHO boss has urged nervous Spaniards to trust those in charge of the evacuation.

"Your concern is legitimate, because of the experience of Covid: that trauma is still in our minds," he acknowledged. But he added that the risk of wider contagion now was low "because of how the virus works, and because of how the Spanish government has prepared to avoid any problem".

Dozens of intensive care specialists are on stand-by at the Candelaria hospital in Tenerife in case anyone from the Hondius becomes seriously ill during the transfer. A strict isolation facility has one bed fully equipped to deal with infectious diseases, complete with testing kit and a ventilator.

"We are absolutely ready," chief intensive care doctor Mar Martin told me on the unit, where large numbers of protective suits, masks and gloves are already piled up for staff.

"We've never seen [hantavirus] before – but it's a virus, with some complications, just like we manage every day. We are fully trained for that."

There was some anger here when people learned the Hondius was being diverted to their island.

On Friday, a group of port workers gathered outside the local parliament in noisy protest, concerned that safety measures were not strong enough.

Now, there's more clarity – and calm.

​"The virus is dangerous, of course. But they say you need to have very close contact to get it," Jennifer told me, out walking with her child in Tenerife's capital Santa Cruz.

"If we're careful, we hope it's not too serious."

Others were annoyed that Madrid had decided to send the Hondius here - a political concern, rather than a medical one.

Some recalled how officials had once made reassuring noises about Covid, too, before the pandemic took hold.

But there's no sense of panic here.

"If they don't come here from the ship, then we're fine," Esteban told me. "If the measures are adequate, then I don't think people here are worried," his partner Isabel agreed.

Not everyone will disembark in Tenerife from the Hondius: some 30 crew members will stay on board to take the cruise ship back to the Netherlands. But for most, there is at last an end in sight to weeks of fear and uncertainty at sea.

Now come the long weeks of quarantine.

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