WHO raises hantavirus outbreak count to 8 possible cases as Spain calls emergency meeting

The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised the total number of hantavirus cases on the luxury cruise ship to eight, three of which confirmed in a laborator, and five others suspected.

The eighth case is another passenger on the MV Hondius ship, confirmed by Swiss authorities, who has been admitted to a hospital in Zurich.

Meanwhile, the WHO has also confirmed that the hantavirus is of the Andean strain, which has a history of human-to-human transmission.

The health body is working with the countries involved to carry out international contact tracing, with the aim of ensuring that potentially exposed people are monitored and that any further spread of the disease is limited.

Political meeting

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez has called an emergency meeting with some ministers on Wednesday morning to discuss the WHO request to dock in the Canary Islands.

Although Spain initially rejected the request, the central government later accepted it, despite the "strong opposition" of the local Canarian government.

Moncloa justifies the call in compliance with international law in the face of the request of the WHO, which asks Spain to manage the evacuation and health care of the passengers of the Dutch-flagged ship, currently anchored off the coast of Cape Verde.

The president of the Canary Islands government, Fernando Clavijo, of the regional Coalición Canaria party, said that he had learned of the central government's change of approach through leaks, without any prior consultation.

Clavijo asked Sánchez for an urgent meeting and warned that he would do "everything possible from a legal point of view" to prevent the docking of the MV Hondius.

Home isolation

Catalonia's Secretary of Public Health, Esteve Fernández, expects that the five Catalans traveling on the cruise ship will self-isolate at home if they disembark the ship without showing symptoms.

They will be given medical check ups after leaving the ship and be monitored while at home.

At the moment, the five are feeling well and not showing symptoms, but if they do start to have symptoms, they would be treated at Hospital Clínic.

Fernández has acknowledged that this is an “exceptional situation” but has asked to remain calm and not fall into “unfounded alarm.”