Three suspected hantavirus patients have been evacuated from an infected cruise ship off the coast of West Africa, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
A British doctor, a Dutch crew member and a German passenger, were on their way to receive medical care in the Netherlands, the United Nations body said on Wednesday.
The doctor was said to be in a "serious condition" but has since improved and is now in a "stable condition", said the Spanish health ministry, which said it would receive the MV Hondius in the Canary Islands following the evacuations.
However, president of the autonomous Spanish territory, Fernando Clavijo, said on Wednesday he was worried the ship’s arrival could put the local population at risk and demanded an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
“We have no information whatsoever nor any official document from the government,” Clavijo told Spanish radio station Onda Cero.
“Without having information, I cannot allow them to enter the Canary Islands, because we don’t know what we are dealing with,” added the territory’s president.
In a post on X, Clavijo wrote: "Canarias always acts with responsibility, but it cannot accept decisions taken behind the backs of the Canary Islands institutions and without sufficient information to the population."
Despite this, the Spanish government has shown no indication of changing its plan, and in a statement on Wednesday, the ship’s operator Oceanwide Expeditions said: "At this stage, the planned onward destination for m/v Hondius is the Canary Islands."
The latest update also follows a confirmation of a fresh case of hantavirus among a former passenger who had already returned to Switzerland.
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