Countries prepared to evacuate their citizens from the luxury cruise ship hit by a deadly strain of hantavirus that is due to anchor near Tenerife early on Sunday, as health authorities said the risk of the virus spreading was low.

The World Health Organisation briefed member states with nationals on board on Saturday on how to manage the process, advising active monitoring of passengers for a 42-day period from the last point of exposure. 

“I need you to hear me clearly: this is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low,” World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in a letter to the public published on X earlier on Saturday.

He said he wanted to take the unusual step of sharing a statement to address people’s concerns.

“Passengers will be ferried ashore at the industrial port of Granadilla, far from residential areas, in sealed, guarded vehicles, through a completely cordoned-off corridor, and repatriated directly to their home countries. You will not encounter them”, he added.

Three people have died in the outbreak
The luxury cruise ship MV Hondius left for Spain on Wednesday from the coast of Cape Verde after the WHO and European Union asked the country to manage the evacuation of passengers onboard after the hantavirus, which typically begins with flu-like symptoms, was detected.

Usually, the virus is spread by rodents, but can, in rare cases, be transmitted person-to-person.

The World Health Organisation said on Friday that eight people had fallen ill, including three who died - a Dutch couple and a German national.

Six of these people are confirmed to have contracted the virus, with another two suspected cases, the WHO has said.

The ship is expected to anchor near the island between 0300 GMT and 0500 GMT.

Local authorities have said the evacuation must take place between Sunday midday local time (1100 GMT) and around the same time Monday before conditions at sea are expected to become stormier for the rest of the month.

Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands will send planes to evacuate their citizens aboard the Tenerife-bound cruise ship, Spain's interior minister said in Madrid on Saturday.

The European Union is sending two further planes for the remaining European citizens, Fernando Grande-Marlaska added. The US and UK have confirmed that planes and contingency plans were being arranged for non-EU citizens whose countries were unable to send air transport, he said.

British passengers and staff on the cruise ship will be taken to a hospital in northwest England for an initial isolation period once they are repatriated, UK health authorities said on Saturday.

Americans will be sent to Nebraska for quarantine and testing, travel blogger Jake Rosmarin, who is on board the ship, posted on social media.

All passengers, as well as 17 crew members, will be evacuated, but 30 crew members will stay on board and travel on to the Netherlands, Spain's Health Minister Monica Garcia said. Luggage and the body of a deceased passenger on the ship will remain on board and the ship will be fully disinfected on arrival, she added.

Spanish citizens will disembark first, with the order of evacuation of the remaining groups of citizens to be determined by health authorities. Citizens will not be able to disembark until their evacuation plane is ready to depart, Grande-Marlaska said.