GENEVA (AFP)
The WHO chief told the people of Tenerife Saturday that the risk to them from an arriving cruise ship hit with a deadly hantavirus outbreak was "low."
"I need you to hear me clearly: this is not another Covid," World Health Organisation director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wrote in an open letter to the people of the Spanish island where the MV Hondius was expected to arrive Sunday.
"The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low."
The Dutch-flagged cruise ship was expected to reach waters off Tenerife at dawn, with Tedros also due on the archipelago to help coordinate the evacuation of around 150 people on board.
In his open letter, Tedros hailed the people of Tenerife for their solidarity and said he had thanked Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez personally for Spain agreeing to take on its "moral duty" and receive the ship.
"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. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment," he said.
Tedros acknowledged that the Andes strain of hantavirus "is serious."
"Three people have lost their lives, and our hearts go out to their families," he said, stressing though that "the risk to you, living your daily life in Tenerife, is low."
"This is the WHO's assessment, and we do not make it lightly."
An expert with the United Nations health agency was on board and had determined that currently "there are no symptomatic passengers," Tedros said.
He also highlighted that "medical supplies are in place" and stressed that Spanish authorities had prepared a "careful, step-by-step plan" for the evacuation.