Canary Islands govt opposes hantavirus-hit ship docking

The regional government of Spain's Canary Islands is opposed to allowing a luxury cruise ship that has been hit by an outbreak of the deadly hantavirus to dock on the archipelago, its leader Fernando Clavijo has said.

"This decision is not based on any technical criteria, nor is there sufficient information to reassure the public or guarantee their safety," Mr Clavijo told radio station COPE.

He added that he had requested an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to discuss the issue.

Mr Clavijo belongs to the conservative People's Party, the main opposition to Mr Sánchez's Socialists.

Earlier, Spanish state broadcaster TVE reported the cruise ship was set to dock at the Canary island of Tenerife, citing sources from the country's health ministry.

The ship, the MV Hondius, was preparing to travel from Cape Verde towards Europe after the Spanish government gave permission for it to dock in the Canary Islands.

The MV Hondius has been at the centre of an international health scare since Saturday, when the WHO was informed that the rare disease, usually spread from infected rodents typically through urine, droppings and saliva, was suspected of being behind the deaths of three of its passengers.

As others fell ill, passengers and crew have been in isolation after Cape Verde authorities barred the ship from docking.

The ship is anchored just off the island nation's capital Praia.

Two Irish people are among the passengers on board the ship.

Human-to-human hantavirus strain confirmed in cruise passenger - South Africa

The Andes strain of the hantavirus that is transmissible between humans has been confirmed in a passenger evacuated to South Africa from the cruise ship, the health minister has said.

"The preliminary tests show that, indeed, this is the Andes strain," South Africa's health minister Aaron Motsoaledi told a parliament committee. "And it happens to be the only strain out of the 38 that is known to cause human-to-human transmission," he added.

Tests done by South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) revealed that the Andes strain was the cause of infection in a Dutch woman who died in Johannesburg, and a British man who is still in hospital. Both had become ill on the ship.

"This is the only strain that is known to cause human-to-human transmission, but such transmission is very rare and as said earlier, only happens due to very close contact," it said.

Other strains of hantavirus are more commonly transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodents or their urine, droppings or saliva.

The Swiss government said a man infected with the hantavirus is being treated in Zurich and added there is currently no danger to the Swiss population.

The man had returned to Switzerland after being a passenger on the cruise ship.