90-Second Read: Hantavirus-infected ship arriving at Canary Islands between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. local time

The Hantavirus-stricken cruise ship will not be allowed to dock on the Canary Islands when it approaches the port of Granadilla, Tenerife, Sunday -- the latest twist in a dramatic week-long showdown over the doomed cruise ship. The head of the World Health Organization arrived on the Canary Islands Saturday and attempted to reassure locals petrified about the overnight arrival of the Hantavirus-infected MV Hondius. In January, the country's National Epidemiological Bulletin determined that "with a total of 58 confirmed cases, the country is at the outbreak threshold" for Hantavirus. I know that when you hear the word 'outbreak' and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who will supervise the evacuation of the ship's.

The confirmed cases include three passengers airlifted from Cape Verde to the Netherlands on May 6, including 56-year-old British crew member Martin Antsee, who remain in the hospital as of Saturday. United Kingdom authorities confirmed Friday that a local on the remote island of Tristan da Cunha — where the ship made its first scheduled stop on April 15 — was being treated for a suspected case of the rodent-borne virus. Hantavirus – the disease that killed Gene Hackman's wife Betsy Arakawa – is usually spread through rodent droppings, but this strain, the Andes virus, can be spread between people and carries a mortality rate of nearly 40%. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment. From there, passengers are being.

Instead, hazmat-clad health teams will swarm aboard to evaluate the passengers, and some of the 60 crew, who will be transferred, donned in full protective garb, to a cordoned-off section of the port in small boats five people at a time. But they won't be tested for Hantavirus or forced to isolate unless they're symptomatic. They will continue the voyage to the Netherlands, from where the body will be repatriated and the ship disinfected. Argentina experienced a spike in cases last year, logging 86 infections and 28 deaths in 2025 — one of its deadliest tallies in years, with wildfires in Patagonia suspected of pushing rodents closer to towns. The vessel was estimated to arrive near the port of Granadilla, on the island of Tenerife, at 5:30 a.m.

Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more. Another was a 69-year-old British man, a passenger, who was airlifted from Ascension Island on April 27 to an intensive care unit in Johannesburg, along with his American partner, who is reportedly asymptomatic. The 14 Spanish nationals aboard are being evacuated first and flown to a military hospital in Madrid to quarantine. A team of epidemiologists and medical professionals deployed by the Centers for Disease Control is escorting the 17 Americans on board the ship. We are not quarantining anybody," a CDC official told ABC on Saturday.