WHO director says he will personally oversee hantavirus cruise evacuation

World WHO director says he will personally oversee hantavirus cruise evacuation By Mark Osborne May 9, 2026 / 10:36 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he will personally oversee the painstaking process of evacuating more than 100 people from a cruise ship dealing with an outbreak of the rare and deadly hantavirus."I will be there myself," Tedros said in a letter addressed to the people of the Canary Islands, where the ship will anchor off the coast of its largest island, Tenerife. "I intend to travel to Tenerife to observe this operation firsthand, to stand alongside the health workers, port staff, and officials who are making it happen, and to personally pay my respects to an island that has responded to a difficult situation with grace, solidarity, and compassion. Your humanity deserves to be witnessed, not just acknowledged from a distance."The ship is currently sailing toward Tenerife, part of the Spanish and is expected to reach the island just before dawn on Sunday local time, or around midnight U.S. Eastern time, according to officials. Nine people on the ship had confirmed or suspected cases of the hantavirus and three people have died, according to health officials. None of the 147 people currently on board, including 60 crew members, are symptomatic, according to Oceanwide Expeditions, which owns the vessel.There are 17 Americans on the MV Hondius, according to Oceanwide Expeditions, who will be taken off the ship in a small boat, taken to shore and immediately to a plane on the runway waiting for them. The plane, provided by the U.S. government with oversight from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will take the Americans to the National Quarantine Center at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, according to the CDC. "I'm sure they're very anxious to get home, but (we need) to make sure they do that in the most safe way possible," Maria van Kerkhove, W...