The Ministry of Health coordinates response to hantavirus outbreak on MV Hondius with WHO and international authorities

The Minister for Health, Mónica García, at the press conference (Pool Moncloa/Borja Puig)

The Minister for Health has held a press conference to report on the situation arising from the hantavirus outbreak detected on the MV Hondius, a Dutch vessel that had departed from Argentina and was initially bound for Cape Verde after stopping in South Africa. Approximately 150 people of 23 different nationalities were on board, including 14 Spanish citizens.

The minister explained that the Ministry of Health became aware of the situation last week through international health alert and coordination channels, immediately activating joint monitoring with the World Health Organisation (WHO), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Commission, the countries involved, and the Government of the Canary Islands.

Since the beginning of the crisis, there has been ongoing coordination among all the administrations and institutions involved. The minister noted that she has been in continuous contact with the President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, while the Secretary of State for Health, the Directorate General of Public Health, Foreign Health, and the technical teams have worked in coordination with their regional and international counterparts to share information, assess risks, and prepare the health response.

Current epidemiological situation

According to the latest information, the outbreak currently has eight linked cases, three of which have been confirmed by laboratory testing.

• Three fatalities (one confirmed by laboratory test)
• One patient hospitalised in Switzerland with a positive test (disembarked from the ship in Saint Helena)
• Another patient in ICU in South Africa (the third with a diagnosis)
• Three symptomatic patients already evacuated by plane from Cape Verde to Amsterdam (one of them is the doctor)

Formal request for collaboration from the WHO

During the press conference, the minister explained that a meeting took place yesterday afternoon between the technical teams of the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation, in which it was agreed to send a team of international epidemiologists to review the health situation on the ship in Cape Verde.

Subsequently, the WHO indicated that Cape Verde does not currently have the necessary capacity to independently carry out all the epidemiological, environmental, and public health assessments required to manage a health incident of this nature.

In view of this situation, the Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, formally asked the President of the Government of Spain for the collaboration of the Spanish government to facilitate the arrival of the MV Hondius and to implement the necessary health measures under international coordination. The minister underlined that Spain's actions are based on both humanitarian principles and international legal obligations under the WHO's International Health Regulations, to which Spain is a State Party.

In this regard, she recalled that Articles 13 and 44 of the Regulations establish the duty of technical and logistical cooperation between countries in the event of international health emergencies, while Articles 27 and 28 expressly regulate the management of infection situations on board international means of transport.

She also noted that these treaties form part of the Spanish legal system and are fully binding on public administrations.

Development of the health operation

Mónica García explained that the designed operation clearly distinguishes between symptomatic cases and passengers considered close contacts without symptoms.

Active or symptomatic cases will not travel to the Canary Islands. They will be evacuated directly from Cape Verde via medicalised aircraft to high-isolation hospital units to receive specialised care.

Meanwhile, those continuing their journey to the Canary Islands are close contacts or asymptomatic passengers, whose arrival is expected within an estimated 72 to 96 hours.

Disembarkation will be carried out through controlled health circuits, with direct transfer from the port to the airport and subsequent return to their countries of origin, avoiding at all times transit through areas open to the general public.

With regard to Spanish nationals on board, the Ministry is currently verifying whether they maintain their habitual residence in Spain. Where this is the case, their evacuation will be carried out through an operation coordinated by the Ministry of Defence, and they will be transferred to the Gómez Ulla Central Defence Hospital in Madrid, where they will undergo the corresponding quarantine under medical supervision.

In addition, the Ministry of Health has asked the WHO for a specific technical protocol for the management of cases and close contacts. Preliminary plans indicate that these individuals will undergo home quarantine under active surveillance and continuous medical monitoring.

Should symptoms appear, the National Health System will activate the state UATAN network to guarantee immediate and safe care.

The Minister sought to reassure the public, insisting that the risk to the general population remains very low. Although hantavirus can have a high mortality rate in certain severe clinical forms, especially respiratory ones, the Ministry explained that the specific context of the outbreak-a vessel with close and prolonged contact-significantly increases the likelihood of person-to-person transmission.

International health authorities have also identified the variant involved as Andean hantavirus, one of the few variants in which human-to-human transmission has been documented. However, both the WHO and the ECDC agree that this type of transmission remains extremely rare and requires very close and prolonged contact, generally with symptomatic individuals.

Non official translation