'Not again!' Tenerife locals fear island could become ground zero for 'Covid 2.0' when hantavirus cruise ship docks

Tenerife locals fear their island could become ground zero for a "Covid 2.0" scenario when the hantavirus-carrying cruise ship docks at the isalnd.

Three people have died from the so-called "rat virus" on board the MV Hondius - currently on its way to the Canary Islands after being stranded in Cape Verde.

Onboard the Dutch cruise ship are 23 British nationals: 22 passengers and one member of staff.

Three passengers have been evacuated from the ship to receive care, with one named as 56-year-old British national Martin Anstee, a former police officer.

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Joana Batista, a representative for the Port Workers' Union, said her colleagues were worried after being not given "any information" about the cruise ship's arrival.

She said port workers were "wiling to help", but without information about what safety measures will be needed, there are fears "we're facing a Covid 2.0".

The union representative said: "All they need is information. If they have to use PPE, what the requirements are, what safety measures are in place, with that information, the whole operation can go smoothly, but we don’t have it.

"Everyone is worried because they have family at home, and the last thing they want is for the virus to spread further."

Residents have also said the Government should not allow the vessel, which has five confirmed cases so far, to dock at the island.

A resident told the BBC: "I think the most sensible thing would be for them to worry about us and not allow that ship into the Canary Islands.

"It should stay where it is... or they should take it to mainland Spain or to Africa."

The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has said he opposed the decision to allow it to dock, saying it was not safe for locals on the archipelago.

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The latest outbreak will remind residents of Covid lockdowns and quarantines in 2020.

The archipelago was one of the first places in Europe to quarantine during the pandemic, with more than 700 holidaymakers stranded in Tenerife for 14 days in February 2020.

Despite the 146 people aboard being asked to wear a mask, World Health Organisation (WHO) epidemiologists have told the public they will not face widespread quarantines.

Infectious disease epidemiologist Maria van Kerkhove said at a press briefing on Thursday that "this is not Covid, this is not influenza, it spreads very, very differently".

And in the same briefing WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus said the public health risk was "low".

He added that the first two confirmed cases both stemmed from visits to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, while bird-watching at sites where the "species of rat known to carry the virus was present".

The international health community is, however, carefully watching the virus, with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention closely monitoring the situation.

President Donald Trump told reporters he had been briefed on the hantavirus, and said the situation was "very much, we hope, under control".

Individual states are monitoring the spread of the virus, with Georgia Department of Public Health monitoring two asymptomatic residents, Arizona ⁠Department of Health Services monitoring one resident, and in Texas officials said it was observing two residents, who were passengers on the ship and returned to the US before the outbreak was identified.

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