Germany and the US are among the countries sending aircraft to fly their citizens home. The ship anchored at a port in Tenerife.

The virus-hit MV Hondius arrived off the Spanish port of Granadilla, Tenerife. The vessel did not dock and is anchored in the harbor.

None of the remaining passengers or crew have shown symptoms of infection, though all will be tested.

The US, the UK, and several European countries have dispatched aircraft to evacuate their citizens.

The head of the World Health Organization said the risk posed by the hantavirus outbreak “remains low.”

The first group of passengers, all Spanish nationals, have disembarked and been transported ashore. They will board military buses to the airport and fly on a military plane to Madrid for quarantine.

Dutch nationals are expected to be the next to leave the vessel.

A medical team has now boarded the MV Hondius and is conducting an epidemiological investigation.

After a British national with a suspected hantavirus infection disembarked on Tristan da Cunha, the UK military parachuted “specialist paratroopers and military clinicians” onto the island.

The remote volcanic island has no airstrip, accessible only by boat.

Spanish authorities hope to complete the evacuation by tomorrow, with the last flight set for Australia.

After all passengers and some crew evacuate, the vessel will sail to the Netherlands for disinfection and to transport the body of a deceased German woman.

Germany’s Robert Koch Institute recommends six weeks of isolation for asymptomatic contact persons.

Source: www.dw.com