WATCH LIVE. Evacuations of ship with hantavirus outbreak in full swing – Belgian cruise guests take off at 3:30 PM | News

The first plane carrying passengers from the hantavirus-affected cruise ship Hondius left Tenerife South on Sunday just before 12 noon local time (1 p.m. Belgian time). There are fourteen Spaniards on board who are evacuated to a hospital in Madrid. This concerns thirteen passengers and one crew member.

A second plane carrying the five French passengers on the Hondius left a little later. The Dutch plane carrying the two Belgians is scheduled to depart at 2:30 PM local time.

The medical check of the Dutch passengers of the m/v Hondius has been completed. The Ministry of Health said this on Sunday. They are expected to depart by plane from Tenerife to Eindhoven together with the two Belgian passengers at 2:30 PM local time (3:30 PM Belgian time).

The Dutch will then undergo a short medical examination in Eindhoven, the ministry said. They are then taken home by “safe professional transport”. Foreign passengers who come along, including Belgians, “are received in a quarantine location organized by the GGD (Dutch Health Institute, ed.)”.

According to mMinister of Public Health Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) the hantavirus is “very bad”, but the situation cannot be compared to the corona pandemic. He said this on Sunday afternoon in VTM NIEUWS.

“This is a very bad virus, but not nearly as bad as Covid,” Vandenbroucke said. “If you get this virus, it can be very serious and people die from it. But you have to have fairly intense contact to become infected. It is not in the air like with corona.”

The Belgians who were present on the cruise ship must therefore be quarantined for 45 days. Vandenbroucke expects the outbreak to be brought under control quickly. “We assume that things can come to a standstill very quickly in this way. That is a big difference with corona.” He also emphasized that the various government services work together well to monitor the Belgians.

The passengers involved will be received on Sunday evening at the Antwerp University Hospital (UZA), where they will be examined. “They will still have to stay there,” Vandenbroucke said. “If they are infected, we have to be very careful. But even if a test is negative, it does not mean that we know for sure. That is why it remains important to strictly follow the quarantine.”

According to the minister, contact tracing has now been completed. Four people came into contact with an infected person via a flight. “That infected person was taken off the plane,” Vandenbroucke said. In addition, four Belgians have been asked to respect the quarantine rules: three in Wallonia and one in Brussels.

According to the FPS Foreign Affairs Belgian passengers on board the affected cruise will be repatriated to Eindhoven this afternoon. According to the latest information they would around half past three take off, although it is not clear whether it is local time or Dutch time. The arrival in Eindhoven is expected between 7:30 PM and 8 PM Belgian/Dutch time.

The evacuated passengers will receive instructions before boarding the aircraft.

The first bus with evacuated passengers has arrived at South Tenerife Airport. The bus drives onto the airport platform, so that passengers can immediately board the plane.

The situation on the tiny volcanic island Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic Ocean dire become. The cruise ship MV Hondius was docked there in mid-April. One of the passengers disembarked, but unintentionally brought with him an invisible threat: the hantavirus.

Because Tristan da Cunha has no airstrip, the British army had no choice but to carry out a drop to assist the British patient. There may also be one second person on the island exposed to the virus.

The evacuation of the passengers from the Dutch cruise ship Hondius has begun. Ehn first group of passengers, all ⁠Spanish ⁠citizenshas left the cruise ship Hondius. The passengers become taken off board in boats and then taken to the airport by bus. The first bus has now left.

The group that is allowed to leave the Hondius after the Spaniards consists of Dutch people and others who go to the Netherlands. On the flight to Eindhoven Germans also go Belgians and Greeks along.

It is still unclear exactly what time the flight will depart from Tenerife South Airport. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs previously estimated that 29 people would fly.

The hantavirus-affected ship arrived at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife early in the morning on Sunday, where it anchored. There are approximately 150 people on board the Hondius, none of whom have complaints that could indicate infection with the hantavirus.

It is also still on board body of a passenger who died to the virus. This will sail to Rotterdam, where the ship will be cleaned. That journey will take about five days, shipping company Oceanwide reported on Saturday evening.

The European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, announced on Sunday that a ambulance plane was sent from Norway to Tenerife.

“Following a request from Spain under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, a rescEU ambulance plane sent from Norway to Tenerife to address the hantavirus situation on board the MS Hondius,” the commissioner said in a social media post.

According to Spanish Health Minister Mónica García, everything has gone smoothly so far. “Despite all the challenges, the anchoring has proven to be a success. The health teams tell us that all passengers have remained asymptomatic“, she said during a press moment.

The evacuation of passengers from the cruise ship hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak and anchored off Tenerife will begin soon and last until Monday afternoon, Spain’s health minister said.

Spanish King Felipe and Queen Letizia “are closely following the operation on the island of Tenerife in connection with the arrival of the ship m/v Hondius”. The Spanish court wrote this on Instagram. The Dutch cruise ship, where the hantavirus broke out, arrived at the Spanish island on Sunday morning.

The palace also announced that the Spanish royal couple are in close contact with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Fernando Clavijo, the President of the Canary Islands, about the situation in Tenerife.

The m/v Hondius arrived on Sunday morning in the port of Granadilla de Abona, where the passengers were taken off board by medical staff and the authorities. The passengers are tested for the hantavirus and put on a repatriation flight. The virus killed three passengers.

The m/v Hondius entered the port of Granadilla de Abona on Sunday just before 8 a.m. Belgian time. It will anchor there from shore, pending the evacuation of those on board.

There are still approximately 150 people on board the ship on which the hantavirus broke out, some of whom are crew. The Vlissingen shipping company Oceanwide previously reported that none of them are showing symptoms of infection yet.

The evacuation of those on board will begin at sunrise. The cruise ship passengers are disembarked under the watchful eye of medical staff and authorities.

The Spanish passengers will be taken off board first. They will be transferred to a military hospital in Madrid, where they will be quarantined, Spanish Health Minister Mónica García said.

Persons of other nationalities are then taken off board by boat, tested and put on a repatriation flight as quickly as possible. The two Belgians on the cruise ship with a flight chartered by the Netherlands to Eindhoven to fly.

The passengers are evacuated from the Hondius by small motor boats with room for 5 people. Other passengers leave the ship in large boats that can accommodate 10 people.

“The order of disembarkation will be coordinated with the upcoming repatriation flights,” shipping company Oceanwide Expeditions said in a statement on Saturday evening. The luggage of all passengers remains on board the Hondius.

Part of the crew of the Hondius will remain on board and continue to Rotterdamwhere the ship will be cleaned. The journey will probably take five days.