The President of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, has stopped the hantavirus-infected cruise ship MV Hondius from docking in the region, demanding an urgent meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Clavijo argues there is a “serious co-ordination gap” between Spain’s regional and national authorities, with shifting plans and unclear communication over how to manage the infected vessel.
Before any docking or evacuation plan proceeds, he insists the government must provide full transparency and clear justification.
“If we do not have the proper information that guarantees the protection of the Canary Islands population, the Canary Islands government will not allow any ship to dock. That is absolutely clear and I have conveyed this to Prime Minister Sánchez and the minister,” he said.
The Spanish Government initially planned to evacuate infected passengers by medical flights from Cape Verde while allowing the non-infected passengers to continue by ship to the Netherlands.
Clavijo, though, learned through the press that this plan had changed, with authorities instead directing the ship toward the Canary Islands and arranging for passengers to fly from there to their destinations.
The Canarian President said such move should have been based on transparency and co-ordination with the Canary Islands’ administrations conditions that, he said, have not been met so far.
Yesterday, the Spanish Ministry of Health announced to the press in a statement that the ship was expected in the Canary Island “within three to four days”.
